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JERUSALEM    FltOM  THE   GOLDEN   OAIE    SIIOWUJO   THE   lEWlLE   AREA   IN   THE   rOKEGIlOUND    WITH    IIIF   MOiijIJES   AND  MINARETS   IN   THE   IIOLV    PLACE. 


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BEAGTllUI    roll   SllLAIIOl)     lUL  JUi    Ol     IDE   «I1CIL   LAIITU    lb  MUUM    /1U\     ON   lUL   ill  Lh   Ol     lUE   N  IIITII    THE   Clfl    OF   TUE   OKL  iT  IJNG 


Imiittiitl  I 


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OR, 


The  Life  of  JesLis  Christ 


i»«*  1«^^ 


From  His  Incarnation  to  His  Ascension. 


BY 


ZACHART  EDDY,  D.  D. 


^iih  an  Intmductmn, 


BY 


RICHARD    S.    STORRS,    Jr.,    D.    D. 


SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.: 
W.    J.    HOLLAND    &    CO. 

186  8. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867,  by 

W.  J.  HOLLAND   &   COMPANY, 

In  tlie  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  INIassachusetts. 


SAMUEL    BOWLES    AND    COMPANY, 

ELECTROTYPEKS,   PKINTEUS    AND    BINDERS, 

S1'KING1"IELI>,  MASS. 


zs^ 


Preface 


This  book,  the  fruit  of  many  years  of  patient  and  faithful 
study,  is  Intended  for  the  people,  but  not  for  the  ignorant  and 
thoughtless.  It  assumes  that  the  majority  of  readers  in  this  age 
are  neither  thoughtless  nor  ignorant.  It  is  written  in  the  spirit 
of  the  lamented  Hugh  Miller,  who  declared  that  it  had  been  his 
aim  to  write  ujp  to  the  people,  and  not  down  to  them. 

I  have  not,  therefore,  deemed  it  necessary  to  ignore  those  great 
questions  touching  the  person  and  work  of  Christ,  which  now  en- 
gage the  attention,  not  only  of  theologians  but  of  philosophers  and 
scholars.  The  age-long  controversy  concerning  supernaturalism 
has,  in  our  time,  extended  far  beyond  the  closets  of  solitary  think- 
ers, far  beyond  the  cloisters  and  lecture-rooms  of  the  universities, 
and  enlists,  not  only  the  startled  curiosity,  but  the  anxious  concern 
of  millions.  The  day  seems  close  at  hand,  when  the  final  decision 
of  mankind  on  the  gospel  of  Christ,  will  be  pronounced.  I  have 
not  hesitated  to  grapple  with  this  mighty  problem,  and  to  offer 
what  seems  to  me  the  only  rational  solution.  I  have  therefore 
devoted  the  first  part  of  the  book  to  the  discussion  of  miracles  and 
other  topics  connected  with  the  credibility  of  the  gospels.  I  ven- 
ture to  hope  that  my  readers  will  find  this  discussion  neither  un- 
intelligible nor  unlnterestinfT. 

The  predominant  design  of  the  book,  however,  is  not  to  meet 
the  arguments  and  cavils  of  rationalistic  assailants  of  Christianity, 
but  rather  to  set  forth  in  as  clear  and  graphic  a  style  as  possible, 
the  great  events  of  our  Lord's  earthly  history,  and  the  scope  and 
substance  of  His  wondrous  sayings  and  discourses.  It  is  an 
essential  part  of  my  plan  to  avoid  all  chronological,  topographical, 


11  PREFACE. 

and  harmonistic  discussions.  I  content  myself  with  following,  or, 
all  doubtful  questions,  the  most  approved  authorities,  though  the 
reader  will  find  me  sometimes  forsaking  them  all,  for  what  apj)ears 
to  me  a  "  more  excellent  way." 

In  the  preparation  of  this  work,  while  many  books  have  been 
diligently  consulted  I  have  been  largely  indebted  to  a  few,  the 
most  important  of  which  are,  Robinson's  "  Researches^''  Stanley's 
''''Sinai  and  Palestine,^'  Smith's  '■'■  Dictionary  of  the  Bible"  Nean- 
dcr's  "  Life  of  Jesus  Christy"  Lange's  "  Life  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christy"  Ellicott's  ''^Historical  Lectures  on  the  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christy"  Andrews'  ''''Life  of  our  Lord  upon  the  Earth,'^  and  De 
Ligny's  (Roman  Catholic)  '''' History  of  the  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  My  obligations  to  Alford,  Stier,  Olshausen,  Tholuck, 
Trench,  Van  Oosterzee,  and  other  commentators  on  the  gospels, 
are  too  numerous  to  be  specified. 

I  must  here  record  my  thanks  to  my  friend,  Prof.  Frederick  S. 
Jewell,  Ph.  D.,  for  his  invaluable  assistance  In  preparing  this  book 
for  the  press.  Burdened  as  I  have  been  w'lth  professional  cares, 
it  is  possible  that,  but  for  his  efficient  cooperation,  the  publication 
would  have  been  delayed  for  many  months — perhaps,  even  for 
years.  He  is  entitled  to  my  lasting  gratitude,  and,  In  proportion 
to  the  enhanced  value  of  the  book,  to  that  of  my  readers. 

I  am  deeply  indebted  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Storrs,  whose  genius 
sheds  splendor  and  beauty  on  whatever  it  touches,  for  the  In- 
troduction which  is  prefixed  to  this  book.  AVhatever  judgment 
may  be  pronounced  on  the  main  edifice,  none  who  enter  will  fail  to 
be  enchanted  with  the  magnificence  and  grandeur  of  the  portico. 

It  remains  to  offer  the  fruit  of  my  toil,  which  has  been  its  own 
exceeding  great  reward,  to  my  adorable  Lord  and  Master,  who 
has  upheld  and  strengthened  me  In  this  humble  attempt  to  spread 
abroad  among  men,  the  fragrance  and  glory  of  His  precious  name. 
To  Him,  Immanuel,  the  Word  made  flesh,  be  glory  In  the 
Church  forever.     Amen. 

Bkookltn,  March  12,  18G8. 


Contents. 


PAGE.  PAGE. 

Preface, 1  I  Introductiox, 5 

PART    I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 


1.  Rationalistic  Lives  of  Christ,  .     .     23 

2.  Inviolability  of  the  Laws  of  Na- 

ture as  related  to  Miracles,     .     30 

3.  The  General  I'robability  of  Mira- 

cles,       39 


4.  The  Delay  in  the  Coming  of  our 

Lord, 46 

5.  Posture  of  the  Heathen  Nations  as 

preparatory  to  Christ's  Coming,     53 
G.  Preparation  for  Christ's  Coming,     60 


PART    IL 

THE    BIRTH    AND    EARLY    LIFE    OF   JESUS. 


1.  The  Virgin  IVIother, 

2.  Birth  and  Recognition  of  Jesus,  . 

3.  Jesus,  the  Word  Incarnate,      .     . 

4.  The  mission  of  the  "Wise  Meu 

from  the  East,"       


5.  The  Infiincy  and  Early  Training 

of  Jesus, 05 

6.  The  Youth  of  Jesus 101 

7.  Lessons  from  the  Youth  of  Jesus,  106 


PART    IIL 

THE     PREPARATION. 

1.  The  Forerunner, 113  I  3.  The  Temptation  :  Preliminary,  .  127 

2.  The  Baptism  of  Jesus,    .     .    .     .  121  |  4.  The  Temptation, 134 

PART    IV. 

THE    EARLY    MINISTRY    OF   JESUS. 


1.  Jesus  at  Bethabara, 147 

2    The  Marriage  at  Cana  of  Galilee,  158 
3.  First  Journey  of  Jesus  to  Jerusa- 
lem and  the  Temple,  ....  IGG 
4  Jesus  purifies  the  Temple,  .     .     .  172. 
5.  Jesus  and  Nicodemus,    ....  179 


6.  John   and   his   Disciples   on  our 

Lord's  Baptizing,     ....  189 

7.  Jesus  and  the  Women  of  Samaria,  194 

8.  Jesus  heals  the  Nobleman's  Son,    208 

9.  Jesus  heals  the  Impotent  Man,    .  213 


PART   V. 

THE    INTRODUCTORY    MINISTRY*  OF  JESUS    IN    GALILEE. 


227 


1.  Jesus  rejected  at  Nazareth, 

2.  Jesus    on    the    way    to    Caper- 

naum,     237 

3.  Jesus  at  Capernaum,       ....  243 

4.  Jesus  healing  the  Leper,      .     .     .  251 
6.  Jesus  heals  the  Paralytic  at  Ca- 
pernaum,   257 


G.  Jesus  rebukes  the  Formalism  of 
the  Pharisees 265 

7.  Jesus  chooses  Twelve  Apostles,    276 

8.  The  Teachings  of  Jesus,  .     .     .  290 

9.  The  Sermon  on  the  l\Iount,  .     .  297 

10.  Same  subject — concluded,      .     .  304 

11.  The  Sermon  on  the  Plain,      .     .  312 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


PART    VI. 

OUR    LORDS    LARGER    GALILEAN    MINISTRY. 

PAGE. 


1.  Jesus  heals  the  Centurion's  Ser- 

vant,       319 

2.  Raising  of  Widow's  Son  at  Xain,  324 

3.  Message  of  John  the  Baptist  to 

Jesus, 328 

4.  Jesus  Discourses  upon  John  tlie 

Baptist, 334 

5.  Jesus  forgives  the  Woman  at  Si- 

mon's Feast, 340 

6.  Jesus  heals  a  Blind  and  Dumb 

Demoniac, 350 


7.  IMother  and  Brethren  of  Jesus,  .  360 

8.  The  Great  Teacher,      ....  366 

9.  Jesus    stills    the   Tempest  and 

heals  the  Demoniac, .     .-     .     .  374 

10.  Jesus  at  Matthew's  Teast,      .    .  382 

11.  Jesus    raises   the   Daugliter    of 

Jairus, 387 

12.  The  Theory  of  our  Lord's  IMi- 

raculous  Healing,       ....  395 

13.  Another  Missionary   Circuit  in 

Galilee, 399 


PART 

THE    LATER    GALILEAN 

1.  Jesus   Feeds   the   Multitude  and 

Walks  upon  the  Sea,  ....  411 

2.  Our  Lord's  Discourse  in  Caper- 

naum,     421 

3.  The  Syro-Pheuician  Woman,      .  430 

4.  Journey  through  Zidon  and  De- 

capolis  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee,    .  440 

5.  The  Transfiguration,      ....  449 

6.  Jesus  heals  the  Lunatic  Child,     .  4G1 


VII. 

MINISTRY    OF   JESUS. 

7.  The   Secret  Journey  of  Christ 

through  Galilee, 469 

8.  Jesus  at  the  Feast  of  Taberna- 

cles,      477 

9.  Same  subject — continued,      .     .'489 

10.  Tlie    Woman    accused    by    the 

Pharisees, 497 

11.  Jesus  heals  the  Blind  ]\Ian  on 

the  Sabbath, 501 


PART    VIII. 

THE    PERIOD    OF    OUR    LORDS    MINISTRY    IN    PEREA. 


1.  Final  Departure   of  Jesus   from 

Galilee, 513 

2.  Progress  of  the  Perean  Ministry,  521 

3.  Further  Progress  of  the  Perean 

Ministry, 530 

4.  The  Feast  of  Dedication,  .     .     .536 

5.  Jesus  Dines  with  the  Pharisees,  .  543 

PART 

PASSION 

1.  Mary  Anoints  Jesus  at  the  house  ] 

of  Simon, 601  j 

2.  The  Triumphal  Entry  of  Christ 

into  Jerusalem,  ......  608 

3.  Christ  and  the  Pharisees,    .     .     .  617 

4.  Christ  and  liis  Enemies  in   the 

Temple 625 

5.  Same  subject — continued,  .     .     .  633 

6.  The  Prophetic  Discourse,   .     .    .  643 


6.  The  Heart  of  God, 548 

7.  The  Raising  of  Lazarus,  .     .     .  556 
The  Last  Journey : 

8.  The  Ten  Lepers,      .     .     .570 

9.  Pharisee  and  Publican,     .  574 

10.  The   Ambitious  Disciples,  586 

11.  Conversion  of  Zaccheus,      593 


IX. 

WEEK. 

7.  The  Conspirators  and  the  Traitor, 

8.  The  Passover 

9.  Lord's  Supper:  Valedictory  Dis- 

course,       

10.  Gethsemane, 

11.  Jesus  Belrayed  :  Peter's  Denial, 

12.  Tlie  Trial  of  Jesus,  .     .     . 

13.  Jesus  before  Pilate  and  ITernd,  . 

14.  The  Crucifixion  and  Burial,  .     . 


PART    X. 

OUR      RISEN      LORD. 

1.  The  Resurrection  of  Christ,  .      .  729  1  3.  The  Ascension, 

2.  The  Risen  Saviour  in  Galilee,     .  745  | 


653 

658 

670 
080 
689 
697 
705 
716 


750 


Index, 753 


Introduction. 


a 


Amid  'whatever  changes  of  arts,  letters,  institutions,  empires,  one  figure 
continues  supreme  in  history.  It  is  that  of  the  man  whom  John  baptized, 
■whom  Pilate  criicified ;  who  built  no  capital,  led  no  army,  wrote  no  volume  ; 
who  seemed  to  the  principal  persons  of  his  time  to  have  fitly  closed  a  restless 
yet  an  obscure  life  in  an  ignoble  death ;  but  who  named  himself,  and  who 
now  is  named  in  all  the  written  languages  of  mankind,  the  Son  of  God. 

The  brilliant  names  of  orators,  soldiers,  skilful  inventors,  sagacious  states- 
men, gradually  fade  in  the  vividness  of  their  lustre  as  other  generations 
follow  that  to  which  their  genius  was  first  exhibited.  But  the  name  of  Je- 
sus continues  to  command,  and  ever  more  widely,  the  love,  the  reverence, 
the  obedience  of  mankind.  Careers  so  splendid  in  comparison  of  his,  and 
so  rich  in  energetic  and  governing  forces,  tliat  to  rank  his  beside  them 
would  have  looked  to  the  cultivated  men  of  his  time  like  a  balancing  of 
Nazareth  against  the  Rome  of  Augustus,  have  been  lost  from  sight,  and 
even  from  recollection,  as  the  race  has  moved  from  them,  across  the  expanse 
of  peaceful  or  of  stormy  years.  But  his  career  remains  always  in  sight ; 
like  the  star  which  shines  in  its  serene  heights  when  the  lighthouse-lamp, 
which  near  at  hand  glittered  moi-e  brightly,  has  sunk  beneath  tlie  lifting 
horizon.  More  than  sixty  generations  of  men, — vexed  with  thought,  bur- 
dened with  cares,  and  each  accomplishing,  wearily  or  victoriously,  its  oflSce 
in  the  world, — have  lived,  and  wrought,  and  passed  away,  since  the  young 
child  Jesus  lay  on  his  Mother's  breast  at  Bethlehem.  Yet  they  are  to-day 
more  numerous  in  the  world,  and  more  influential  than  ever  before,  who  turn 
with  profoundly  attentive  minds,  because  with  profoundly  adoring  hearts,  to 
consider  what  he  was.  and  to  ponder  the  things  which  he  said  and  which 
he  did. 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

The  fact  is  suj^ceptiljle  of  no  explanation,  vrliicb  docs  not  discredit  human 
nature  itself,  unless  wo  clearly  accept  this  man, — so  humble  in  his  circum- 
stances, but  iu  his  influence  so  peerless  and  universal, — as  what  this  volume 
assumes  him  to  have  been :  Imma^uel,  or  God  with  us.  '  The  standing: 
miracle,'  as  Coleridge  describes  it,  '  of  a  Christendom  commensurate,  and 
almost  synonymous,  with  the  civilized  world,'*  not  only  compensates,  as  he 
affirms,  for  the  necessary  evanescence  of  some  evidence  for  the  Gospel  en- 
joyed by  the  primitive  Christians.  It  supplies  a  demonstration  of  the 
Divinity  revealed  through  Humanity  in  the  person  of  the  Lord,  than  which 
the  wondei-s  of  wisdom  and  power  related  of  him  by  those  who  saw  them 
were  not  more  si";nal  or  convincino;. 

K  this  be  admitted,  and  if  what  the  Church  has  declared  from  the  begin- 
ning concerning  its  Lord  be  received  as  true, — that  he  was  not  merely  a 
Jewish  mechanic,  of  a  I'are  and  reviving  religious  genius,  but  was  the  only- 
begotten  Son  of  God,  wliom  illustrious  promises  had  foretold,  and  whose 
coming  to  the  world  opened  heaven  to  its  hope,  and  made  history  sublime, 
— then  the  biographies  which  present  him  to  mankind  become,  in  comparison 
of  all  other  documents,  of  a  paramount  interest,  and  a  value  transcendent ; 
and  then  the  facts  related  of  him  in  these  biographies,  however  they  surpass 
what  men  elsewhere  have  experienced  or  observed,  show  a  fitness  to  him, 
as  well  as  an  intimate  harmony  with  each  other,  which  thoughtful  readers 
must  confess.  In  the  utmost  heiglit  of  their  mystery  and  sublimity,  they  are 
only,  after  all,  on  a  level  with  the  nature  then  attributed  to  him. 

His  voluntary  entrance  into  the  world,  from  spheres  of  being  outside  of  and 
above  it;  his  self-elected  participation  in  the  situation,  the  experiences,  and 
the  nature  of  man ;  his  residence  on  the  earth,  in  its  humblest  poverty,  and 
amid  the  collisions  of  its  keen  strifes,  prolonged  through  the  lifetime  of  a 
whole  generation ;  the  instnictions,  in  which  celestial  thoughts  drop  in  music 
from  tender  lips;  the  miracles,  in  which  omnipotence  is  declared  with  as  little 
of  effort  as  when  love  suffuses  the  brightened  face ;  his  institution  of  the 
Church,  as  a  world-embracing  organism,  taking  into  itself  those  of  all  races, 
tongues,  and  times,  and  uniting  them  to  each  otlier  and  to  himself  by  their 
common  experience  of  his  renovating  life ;  his  free  submission  to  a  suffering 
and  a  death  which  a  motion  of  his  will  would  have  made  it  as  impossible  for 

Lit.  Rem.  vol.  5,  p.  428,  N.  Y.  Ed. 


INTRODUCTION.  yii 

men  to  inflict  as  to  push  the  mountains  from  their  place ;  his  resurrection 
from  the  grave,  and  his  final  crowning  return  to  heaven  in  the  splendors  of 
the  Ascension  : — these  all  are  things  the  most  wonderful,  of  course,  which 
history  records  ;  which  may  well  '  stagger,  in  some  minds,'  as  Mr.  Gladstone 
has  said,  'the  whole  fivculty  of  belief;'  yet  they  are  facts  which  on  the 
hypothesis  of  his  Divine  nature  made  manifest  through  the  human,  are  none 
of  them  incredible,  or  even  improbable ;  which,  rather,  may  be  accepted,  if 
they  might  not  have  been  looked  for,  as  the  fit  manifestation,  and  the 
opulent  fruit,  of  the  infinite  spirit,  wisdom,  and  will,  residing  in  him. 

The  permanence,  the  beneficence,  the  ever  wider  extension  of  his  moral  and 
spiritual  dominion  in  the  earth,  reflect  thus  a  freshly  interpreting  light  on  the 
statements  of  apostles  and  evangelists  about  him.  With  every  century  it 
becomes  more  difficult  for  the  simply  philosophical  student, — though  wholly 
uninfluenced  by  that  peculiar  Christian  afi^ection  which  in  the  Church  is 
sought  to  be  propagated, — to  eliminate  from  history,  and  remit  to  the  depart- 
ment of  fable  or  of  poetry,  the  early  records  of  this  supreme  man  :  who  was 
born  to  no  rank,  and  trained  in  no  school,  who  held  himself  aloof  from  none, 
and  did  not  shrink  from  the  touch  of  the  sinful,  who  sought  no  fame,  and 
seemed  content  to  strew  his  words  on  the  vanishing  winds,  but  who  perfectly 
expressed  in  his  crystalline  character  whatever  all  peoples  concede  most 
precious,  and  who  to-day  governs  governments ;  whose  words  are  the  light, 
his  temper  the  model,  and  his  life  the  inspiration,  of  all  that  is  noblest  in 
the  modern  as  in  ancient  character  and  thought ;  and  from  whose  unconspicu- 
ous  advent  the  new  ages  of  liberty,  of  discovery,  and  of  progress,  date  their 
birth.  It  is  a  true  saying  of  F.  W.  Faber,  that  "  the  Incarnation  is  as  much 
the  world  m  which  we  live  as  is  the  globe  on  which  we  tread."* 

It  is  simply  inevitable,  then,  that  particular  incidents,  of  whatever  kind, 
reported  to  us  from  the  life  of  the  Lord,  by  those  who  knew  him,  saw  him, 
walked  with  him,  should  have  for  those  who  accept  them  as  actual,  and  him 
as  the  chiefest  Person  in  history,  an  undecaying  dignity  and  charm.  What- 
ever he  touched  is  consecrated  thereby  to  their  memories  and  hearts.  The 
places  where  he  dwelt,  the  cities  where  he  taught,  the  hills  on  which  he 
prayed,  and  the  sea  on  which  he  sailed,  are  invested  with  the  sublimcst,  the 
most  quickening  associations,  that  can  be  connected  with  earthly  scenes.     It 


*  The  Blessed  Sacrament,  p.  308,  Bait.  Ed. 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

is  not  the  capricious  impulse  of  fancy,  or  the  frenzy  of  superstition, — it  is  an 
intelligent  and  a  reasonable  sense  of  the  unapproached  wonderfulness  which 
belonged  to  his  life,  and  which  fell  from  that  life  as  a  baptism  of  glory  on  the 
very  localities  amid  which  it  was  passed, — which  to-day  leads  pilgrims  from 
all  Christian  lands  to  the  precipitous  ledges  that  rise  behind  Nazareth,  or  the 
terraced  and  fruitful  ridge  of  Bethlehem.     The 


\ 


holy  fields  ^ 

i 


,  Over  whose  acres  walked  those  blessed  feet, 

derive  an  attraction  enduring  as  time  from  the  consecrating  footprints  of  him 
who  had  walked  the  golden  streets,  but  who  consented,  for  our  advantage,  to 
tread  the  common  ways  of  earth,  and  at  last  to  be  nailed  on  the  bitter  cross. 
No  sentence  from  his  lips,  but  the  heart  watches  and  longs  to  hear.  No 
action  of  his  life,  of  which  the  believer  would  not  reproduce,  if  possible,  the 
image ;  setting  it  again  in  its  original  circumstances,  and  catching  the  very 
look  and  gesture  with  which  it  was  attended.  Not  only  his  miracles  attract 
our  attention.  We  think  of  him  in  the  actions  which  in  others  would  have 
been  commonplace, — dining,  sleeping,  sitting  by  the  way-side,  greeting  the 
traveler,  or  standing  on  the  pebbly  beach, — and  still  our  souls  are  con- 
scious of  a  secret  glow  almost  as  ardent  as  when  we  watch  him  descendinsr 
the  stony  pitch  of  Olivet,  or  reasoning  with  the  rulers  on  the  pavement  of 
the  temple. 

The  charm  which  thus  emanates  from  the  supremacy  of  his  person,  and 
irradiates  the  visible  scenes  which  he  has  hallowed,  would  have  been  indeed  too 
powerful,  if  not  in  a  measure  counteracted,  to  leave  Christianity  itself  unim- 
paired, as  a  spiritual  religion,  designed  for  the  world.  And  so  it  has  beeo 
made  impossible,  in  Providence,  for  the  precise  spot  of  his  birth  or  his  bap 
tism,  of  his  transfiguration,  his  death,  his  burial,  or  his  ascension,  to  be 
beyond  dispute  identified ;  and  no  personal  relic  whatever  remains  of  him. 
An  idolatrous  adoration  of  things  earthly  and  temporal  would  have  otherwise 
seemed  inevitable  in  Christendom.  If  any  jtarclnnent,  like  the  letter  to 
Agliarus  mentioned  by  Euseblus*  on  which  his  hand  had  traced  some  llnej 
in  the  Syrlac  language,  remained  among  men,  no  setting  of  diamonds  would 
be  precious  enough  wherewith  to  Incase  it.  If  the  early  legend  had  been  true, 
and  the  napkin  of  Veronica  had  kept  the  imprint  of  his  face  as  he  wiped 

*  Hist  EccL,  B.  1,  chap.  13. 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

with  it  the  bloody  sweat  on  his  way  to  the  cross,  the  city  which  coutaincd  it 
would  have  been,  by  means  of  it,  the  centre  of  concourse  for  mankind. 
Only  in  "-encral,  tliorcfore,  do  we  know  where  he  tarried  or  wrought.  Oidy 
the  sifniticant  facts  of  his  life  are  left  on  record  for  our  instruction.  For 
these  make  impression  on  the  soul,  not  the  sense ;  and,  by  reason  of  their 
wondcrfulncss,  thoy  are  as  near  and  as  glorious  to  those  who  look  up  to  them 
from  the  banks  of  Indian  or  American  rivers  as  if  these  had  followed  the 
winding  Jordan  from^its  sweet  fountains  to  its  salt  grave,  or  had  climbed  to 
the  crest  of  Tabor  or  of  Hermon. 

And  yet,  as  it  is  with  all  other  facts  which  the  senses  report  or  which 
thought  apprehends,  so,  most  of  all,  with  these  which  the  gospels  narrate  of 
the  Lord.  They  have  their  value  in  their  significance,  and  not  in  their  mere 
sublimity  or  strangeness.  As  every  crystal,  from  the  snow-flake  this  instant 
swinging  through  the  air  to  the  diamond  on  whose  history  volumes  are  written, 
attracts  the  philosopher  to  the  study  of  itself  because  in  its  special  structure 
and  form  it  incorporates  a  law,  and  so  becomes  to  him  a  lens,  through  which 
he  may  discern  great  secrets  of  nature ;  as  each  heroical  action  of  men,  in 
the  crisis  of  their  fortunes,  reveals  the  undetermined  capacity,  for  tranquility 
amid  pains,  for  victory  over  force  and  a  joyous  self-sacrifice,  which  forever  is 
lodged  in  the  consecrated  soul,  and  so  becomes  to  the  thoughtful  observer 
more  rich  in  suggestion  than  any  dazzling  march  of  armies,  or  the  most  suc- 
cessful achievement  of  skill  in  the  intricate  whirls  of  diplomatic  intrigue;  — 
so,  and  still  more,  it  is  not  so  much  by  what  they  are,  as  by  what  they  evi- 
dently contain  and  declare,  that  the  facts  which  confront  us  in  the  life  of  the 
Lord  engage  and  reward  the  thoughts  of  disciples.  The  secret  of  their 
preciousness,  the  hiding  of  their  power,  is  in  this :  that — admitting  the  Lord 
to  have  been  what  faith,  from  both  prophecy  and  history,  affirms  him  to  have 
been — through  these  facts  are  declared  to  us,  in  the  sharpness  and  fulness 
of  a  personal  revelation,  the  life,  the  might,  and  the  character  of  the  Most 
High ;  that  He  whom  men  had  blindly  groped  after,  and  whom,  as  Paul  de- 
clared of  the  Athenians,  they  unknowingly  had  worshipped,  is  here  set  forth 
in  the  perfect  discovery  of  His  grace  and  His  glory,  to  draw  men  in  penitent 
love  to  Himself. 

The  most  amazing  event  of  time, — the  appearing  of  Him  by  whom  all 
things  consist,  in  the  person  of  a  man,  partaking  the  experience  and  sharing 
the  nature  of  those  whom  His  will  had  first  created,  and  whom  it  still  restored 


X  INTIIODUCTION. 

by  a  word  from  the  grave  to  life, — this  had  a  purpose  as  sublime  as  itself. 
All  preceding  procedures  of  grace  and  truth  were  completed  in  it ;  and  the 
waiting  yet  rebellious  world,  which  had  worshipped  the  winds,  had  called  stars 
and  streams  to  be  its  gods,  had  molten  the  gold,  and  had  almost  chiseled  the 
marble  into  life,  in  its  search  for  a  divinity,  gained  in  Him  the  vision  of  its 
Maker.* 

It  is  not  tlien  a  point  which  needs  to  be  argued  that  to  one  who  so  accepts 
the  Lord  tlie  interest  which  essentially  belongs  to  bis  life  must  be  supreme,  ^1 
and  be  as  immortal  as  the  soul.  Tlie  most  vital  and  transcendent  truth  which  ' 
the  universe  holds,  which  eternity  can  show,  is  here  presented  ;  not  as  shown 
through  words  or  in  vision,  but  as  realized  in  a  life,  and  revealed  through  its 
continuous  action.  Realms  of  wisdom  the  very  outskirts  of  which,  except 
for  this,  we  could  have  hardly  hoped  to  tread,  are  opened  by  it ;  and  thus 
it  becomes  not  only  the  means  for  illuminating  the  mind  with  that  ultimate 
knowledge  which  interprets  all  others,  but  also  for  enriching  the  moral  nature 
with  a  profound  and  prophetic  experience,  in  comparison  of  which  all  else 
that  we  gain  beneath  '  the  low-hung  sky  of  time '  is  of  trifling  account. 
"Whoever  feels — what  all  who  reflect  on  it  with  any  attention  it  would  seem 
must  feel — that  to  have  a  sufficient  and  certain  apprehension  of  Ilim  from 
whom  all  being  is,  and  in  whose  mind  are  the  archetypes  of  tlie  Universe, 
is  of  paramount  consequence  to  those  who  in  spiritual  constitution  are  like 
Him,  and  whose  real  blessedness  and  perfect  exaltation  are  only  to  be  found 
in  alliance  with  Him,  must  find  in  those  records  of  the  life  of  the  Lord  at- 
traction to  the  intentest  study,  while  always  conscious  that  whatever  he  has 
learned,  the  fulness  of  their  treasures  remains  unexhausted.  Such  a  motive 
as  that  which  impels  him  to  this  study  can  animate  the  scholar  in  no  other 
inquiry.  He  may  well  be  assured  that  the  spirits  of  light  partake  his  interest,  <- 
and  aspire  to  share  the  rewards  of  his  study. 

For  it  is  no  mere  knowledge  which  sucli  an  one  attains,  as  he  dwells  upon 

*"The  God  who  dwells  in  a  light  inaccessible,  into  which  the  human  spirit  can 
not  penetrate,  must  dcsceml  t')  liuiiianity,  brini^iiii;  himself  into  the  limits  of  its  own 
finiteness,  in  order  to  be  truly  known  by  it.  Not  until  the  incarnate  manifestation 
of  Deity  tlirough  Christ  could  the  God  afar  ofT  draw  near  to  mankind.  For  the 
first  time,  througli  this  image  of  the  Divine  in  Imman  nature,  was  the  idea  of  God 
enabled  to  enter,  in  a  vital  and  substantial  way,  into  the  consciousness  and  thought 
ef  the  race." — Neander.     Dcr  erste  Brief  S.  Joliannis:  p.  123. 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

the  go.-^pels,  concerning  the  usages  and  the  spirit  of  society,  in  the  country  of 
Palestine,  in  the  eighth  century  of  the  history  of  Rome.  It  is  noi  sim])ly  a 
new  view  which  he  gains  of  the  mystic  and  solemn  order  of  history,  as  he 
places  himself  at  that  eminent  point  toward  which  preceding  centuries  had 
tended,  around  which  tlie  world  unconsciously  paused  in  a  strange  peace,  and 
fi'om  which  after  times  have  taken  their  direction ;  where  thus  tlie  real  har- 
monies, in  what  otherwise  were  inextricable  and  bloody  tangles  of  confusion, 
.  become  apparent.  It  is  not  simply  a  juster  impression  which  such  a  student 
may  hope  to  gain,  and  may  in  fact  gain,  of  other  truths,  greater  than  these, 
yet  all  auxiliary  to  the  greatest : — of  the  guilt  of  sin,  and  its  tenacious  grasp 
on  our  nature,  as  illustrated  by  the  mission  of  the  Saviour;  of  the  nature 
of  Redemption,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  elements  that  are  combined  in  it 
to  accomplish  the  atonement  and  the  renewal  which  we  need ;  or,  even,  of 
the  glories  still  surpassing  our  thought,  but  surely,  hereafter  to  appear,  as  the 
heavenly  fruit  of  that  atonement  and  that  renewal. 

All  these  will  indeed  be  gained  by  him  who  studies  with  attentiveness,  and 
with  spiritual  insight,  the  life  which  began  in  the  mystery  of  Incarnation, 
and  which  closed,  as  it  seemed,  in  the  darker  mysteries  of  Gethsemane  and 
the  Cross.  But  still  the  essential  and  the  perfect  result  to  be  attained  from 
such  a  study  is  that  which  the  Lord  himself  pointed  out  as  constituting  the 
motive  which  drew  him  to  the  world  :  "  that  they  might  have  life,  and  might 
have  it  more  abundantly;"  even  that  unbounded  and  absolute  life  whose 
element  is  "  that  they  might  know  Thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  Thou  hast  sent."  Because  it  is  true  as  Paul  affirmed,  in  that  majestic 
and  luminous  sentence  written  to  the  Corinthian  converts,  that  "God,  who 
commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  hath  shined  in  our  hearts,  to 
give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  therefore  it  is  true,  as  he  in  the  preceding  paragraph  had  said,  that 
"  we  all,  with  unveiled  face  beholding  as  in  a  mirror  the  glory  of  the  Lord, 
are  changed  into  the  same  image,  from  glory  to  glory,  as  by  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord." 

All  other  attainments  are  insignificant  beside  this.  When  it  is  accom- 
plished in  any  soul,  that  has  within  it  a  light  and  life,  a  plenary  peace,  a 
mystery  of  power,  an  ecstatic  enjoyment,  which  surpass  the  results  that 
Becular  studies  can  produce  as  the  vital  force  surpasses  food,  as  thought  sur- 
passes the  reach  of  the  hand.     The  solid  visible  frame  of  things  might  go 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

V  to  pieces,  in  flame  and  tliunder,  without  trouliling  the  spirit  at  rest  in  this 
experience.  It  has  nothing  to  wish  for,  except  an  existence  continued 
through  immortal  years. 

Not  only  is  the  life  of  the  Lord,  in  its  entircncss,  the  inestimable  means 
for  Lringing  us  to  such  a  knowledge  of  God,  and  to  such  an  experience 
conditioned  vipon  it ;  but  it  is  wonderful  to  see  how  each  separate  part, 
the  most  unobtrusive  and  familiar  particular,  in  that  brief  but  ample  and 
crowded  career,  bears  on  the  result ;  how  each  fraction  of  it  is  freighted 
with  Divinost  meaning  when  we  have  found  the  secret  of  its  glory,  in  the 
manifestation  it  makes  of  God.  Not  only  do  the  miracles  attest  His  power, 
and  unveil  the  energy  to  which  the  act  of  creation  was  but  a  choice.  Not 
only  do  the  signal  utterances  of  truth  show  forth  His  wisdom,  and  tell  us,  as 
sunbeams  tell  of  the  sun,  of  that  effulgent  and  unsearchable  mind  before 
which  angels  bow  in  awe.  The  silent  years,  so  many  in  comparison  M'ith  the 
three  of  the  ministry,  yet  of  which  our  records  are  so  brief,  reflect  the  pa- 
tience of  the  Eternal,  and  His  recognition  of  the  fitness  of  times  in  His  most 
gracious  operations.  The  tears  of  Jesus  become  to  us  drops  from  the  Infi- 
nite sympathy,  beneath  which  our  inmost  hearts  are  melted.  His  interest  in 
the  humblest  things  reproduces  before  us  the  mind  Supreme,  to  which  nc  thing 
is  small,  and  which  equally  rounds  the  drop  of  dew  and  the  photo-sphere 

of  suns.     His  benediction  of  the  children  whom  he  took  in  his  arms  makes 

V  ... 
U3  say  "Our  Father"  with  warmer  heart.     His  very  delay  in  answering 

Bome  requests  interprets  the  pauses  in  God's  ways,  and  gives  us  new  motives 
to  continuance  in  prayer.  His  smile  lights  up  the  very  heavens,  as  it  re- 
veals the  Omnipresent  compassion,  and  pours  a  sunshine  on  our  souls  which 
brightest  mornings  could  not  image.  While  still  from  his  sad  rebuking 
glance  flashes  a  light  tliat  illumines  all  warnings  of  the  word,  and  is  itself 
yet  more  admonitory ;  that  makes  what  is  meant  by  the  '  outer  darkness ' 
almost  palpable  to  our  thoughts,  and  lifts  the  Judgment  before  our  minds  as 
real  and  near. 

As  the  Lydian  river  was  fabled  to  change  the  very  sands  its  current 
touched  to  grains  of  gold,  so  the  Divinity  of  the  Lord,  in  fact,  not  in  fable, 
makes  precious  beyond  computation  or  compare  the  minutest  incidents  in  his 
career.  Whatever  he  did,  any  words  that  he  said,  while  he  tarried  on  earth, 
become  vivid  in  significance,  and  rich  in  the  most  illustrious  suggestions, 
when  studied  in  tlic  light  tliat  falls  upon  them  from  his  supreme  nature ;  as 


INTRODUCTION.  XIU 

the  poor  frayed  threads  of  his  comnion  raiment  grew  lustrous  with  celestial 
splendor  when  he  was  manifest  in  his  glory.  Not  without  reason  did  the 
woman  believe  a  virtue  to  reside  in  the  hem  of  his  garment.  And  no  text 
droops  like  a  frail  fringe  from  the  narratives  which  are  the  woven  robes  in 
whicli  he  still  appears  to  men,  that  has  not  in  it  a  secret  virtue  for  one  who 
lovingly  takes  it  in  hand. 

What  kind  of  study  is  appropriate,  then,  to  this  life  of  the  Lord, — is 
necessary,  if  we  would  gain  from  it  its  proper  and  sufficient  fruits, — is  easily 
evident  from  what  has  been  said.  A  kind  of  half-poetic  pleasure  may  be 
derived  from  a  cursory  survey  of  it.  Vague  aspirations,  pointing  feebly 
toward  heroism  in  purpose,  and  the  beauty  of  goodness,  may  be  sluggishly 
stirred  by  a  consideration  of  detached  portions  of  it.  But  if  we  would  have 
the  very  soul  ennobled  and  dilated,  in  all  its  intellectual  powers,  as  that 
immensest  thought  of  the  world  is  intelligently  received,  that  God  for  us  has 
been  revealed  in  the  person  of  His  Son, — most  of  all,  if  we  would  have  the 
heart  pervaded  and  purified  by  the  spiritual  life  which  this  portraiture  of 
the  Lord  is  meant  to  inspire, — then  we  must  study  it  carefully,  largely, 
with  intent  contemplation,  with  all  the  helps  which  we  can  summon ;  and 
then,  above  all,  we  must  study  it  with  affectionate  and  eager  desire  to  know 
the  secret  meanings  of  it,  and  to  have  the  total  impression  which  it  leaves 
adequate  to  its  incomparable  glory.  For  it  is  not  a  system  of  doctrines 
which  we  examine,  when  we  seek  to  know  this  life  of  the  Lord.  It  is  not  a 
series  of  moral  precepts,  the  most  instructive  and  salutary  of  time.  We 
look  upon  a  Person,  in  his  action  and  discourse ;  and  a  Person  is  revealed 
only  through  the  sympathetic  vibration  which  he  stirs  in  our  souls.  Neither 
action  nor  discourse  will  open  to  us  their  inmost  import  till  we  are  respon- 
sively  related  to  him  who  is  manifest  in  both. 

In  this  respect  it  is  with  the  transcendent  life  of  the  Lord  as  it  is  with  all  the 
humbler  lives  of  those  who  have  served  him  in  the  world.  It  is  of  real  and 
great  account  to  us  to  be  familiar,  as  we  may  be,  with  the  life  of  St.  Paul. 
A  bracing,  inspiring  influence  comes,  over  the  centuries,  from  his  heroic  and 
indefatigable  career.  His  work  for  men  had  nowise  ended  when  his  head 
had  follen  beneath  the  sword,  on  the  Ostian  road.  He  blesses  us  still,  by 
his  spii-it  as  by  his  words,  from  Phiiippi  and  from  Corinth.  But  we  never 
understand  him  till  we  are  ourselves,  in  a  measure  at  least,  in  sympathy 
with  him.     And  what  were  a  catalogue  of  his  perils  and  pains,  his  vicissitudes 


XIV  INTIIODUCTION. 

of  fortune,  his  missions  and  bis  martyrdom,  to  one  who  did  not  comprehend 
through  such  sympathy  the  motives  that  urged  and  the  purpose  that  ennobled 
him  ?  It  is  of  eminent  service  to  us  of  know  what  we  may  of  the  life  of  St. 
John ;  that  man  '  of  fiery  love  and  fiery  hate,'  whose  hate  was  at  last  all 
melted  or  exhaled  in  a  consummate  love.  But  what  could  be  really  told 
us  of  his  life, — though  the  narrative  stretched  from  the  shore  of  Gennesaret 
to  the  rocks  around  Patmos, — unless  we  had  felt  in  our  own  hearts  some- 
thing akin  to  that  spirit  in  him  which  made  him  at  fust  the  beloved  disciple, 
and  at  last  the  chosen  seer  of  the  Apocalypse?  And  so,  and  still  more, 
must  we  gain  through  prayer  an  inward  and  quickening  sympathy  with  the 
Lord,  before  the  very  narratives  of  the  Gospel  can  make  Him  live  and  move 
before  us,  whom  Paul  and  John  adoringly  served ;  in  whom  we  meet  the  ideal 
of  ITumanity,  but  are  faced  as  well,  and  overshadowed,  by  the  present 
Divinity  ;  through  the  tender  and  kindling  eyes  of  whom  we  see  the  Creator's 
face  shining  on  us,  and  are  conscious  that  it  is  not  a  mere  human  career — 
the  most  eminent  of  the  as-os — which  we  observe,  but  that  still  through  those 
eyes,  'as  meditation  soars  upward,  it  meets  the  arched  firmament,  with  all  its 
suspended  lamps  of  light.' 

Through  such  a  sympathy,  wrought  within  us  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  may 
we  come  to  what  Pasquier  Quesnel  called  '  the  sacrament  of  the  Gospels,'* 
and  look  to  find  the  Lord  M-hoin  they  present  made  evident  to  our  souls. 
We  learn  then  how  matchless  was  the  wisdom  that  formed  these,  and  that 
still  has  preserved  them,  amid  the  disasters  of  letters  and  of  empires,  and  has 
kept  them  as  fresh  and  full  as  at  first; — written  with  a  beauty,  and  an 
unconscious  pathos,  which  inspiration  alone  could  have  secured ;  their  sim- 
plicity as  inimitable  as  their  sublimity;  even  the  apparent  discrepancies 
between  them  becoming  but  tlie  hooks  to  hold  more  firmly  and  closely  to  them 
the  thoughts  of  their  students ;  their  four-fold  unity  presenting  with  a  per- 
fection not  otlierwise  attainable  the  image  of  Ilim,  fairer  tlian  men,  to  whom 
alike  they  all  give  witness.  The  study  of  catechisms,  and  of  systems  of  doc- 
trine, except  as  subordinate  to  this  study  of  the  gospels,  will  only  give  us 

*  "And  why  may  I  not  use  this  expression,  takinpr  the  word  Sacrament,  in  general, 
fertile  sign  and  conveyance  of  6ome  sacred  thinp?  since  nothing  is  more  sacred, 
and  more  conducive  to  salvation,  than  tliat  whicii  God  has  deposited  and  concealed 
under  the  visible  sign  of  the  Evangelical  word." 

Rcjhxt.  on  The  Gospels,  vol.  1,  p.  30 ;  Phil.  Ed. 


INTKODUCTIOX.  XV 

that  remote  and  theoretic  conception  of  the  Lord  with  which  many  theologians 
have  seemed  to  be  content.  Hardly  more  will  he  be  to  us  than  a  doctrinal 
thesis,  or  a  logical  proposition  ;  a  necessary  factor  in  the  scheme  of  salvation, 
but  not,  as  he  should  be,  a  living,  loving,  active  Saviour,  full  of  might,  but 
full  of  jrrace,  on  whom  we  too  should  have  gazed  with  awe,  on  whom  we  too 
could  have  leaned  at  supper. 

But  when,  with  an  attentive  mind,  and  a  heart  eager  to  catch  and  keep 
each  glimpse  of  his  glory,  one  ponders  these  mai-vellous  narratives  which 
present  him,  with  such  careful  detail,  in  such  picturesque  freedom,  thi-ough 
an  atmosphere  as  transpicuous  as  that  of  the  perfect  Syrian  day,  it  is  won- 
derful to  see  how  his  life  comes  forth  from  the  distance  of  otherwise  vanished 
years,  and  reappears  as  if  but  yesterday  it  had  been  actual.  The  faith  then 
formed  in  us  is  fiir  enough  from  being  one  in  which  '  the  sensation  of  posi- 
tiveuess  is  substituted  for  the  sense  of  certainty,  and  the  stubborn  clutch  for 
quiet  insight.'  It  is  a  faith  to  which  the  intellect  and  the  heart  both 
have  contributed,  stimulating  each  other  in  intimate  and  mutually  helpful 
reactions ;  in  which  the  imagination,  using  the  helps  of  the  Divine  history, 
and  quickened  by  the  quickened  affections,  has  bridged  the  ages,  and  brought 
again  the  Crucified  and  the  Crowned  distinctly  to  sight. 

The  Lord  appears  to  such  a  student,  through  the  vital  and  tender  delinea-i, 
tion  of  the  gospels,  as  he  promised  to  appear  to  those  who  should  seek  him 
after  he  had  departed  from  the  earth.  In  his  meekness  and  his  majesty,  in 
his  patience  and  his  power,  tempted  yet  triumphant,  insulted  yet  serene, 
scoffed  at  by  men  but  worshiped  of  angels,  with  the  world  at  his  disposal 
yet  making  himself  the  poorest  in  it,  submitting  to  the  crown  of  thorns  the 
head  on  which  are  many  diadems,  allowing  the  nails  to  be  driven  through  the 
hands  whose  touch  had  before  unloosed  for  others  the  bars  of  death, — so 
comes  before  the  illumined  thoughts  this  Son  of  the  Eternal ;  this  Prince 
and  King  of  the  kings  of  the  earth.  Ever  more  distinct  becomes  the 
vision,  as  fhe  still  renewed  feeling  awakens  the  mind  to  new  intentness  and 
clarifies  it  to  a  fresh  perspicacity.  Contemplating  him,  in  his  beauty  of  ho- 
liness, subjected  to  death  for  our  redemption,  a  fire  and  force  of  affection 
pervade  us  by  which  conception  is  almost  transmuted  into  sight.  Penitence, 
joy,  love,  shame,  hope,  praise, — not  contending,  but  mingling  in  a  grateful 
grief,  and  all  conspiring  to  a  passionate  tenderness, — these  stir  up  eveiy  power 
of  thought.     They  make  the  soul  alert,  far-visioned ;  quick  to  detect,  and 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

wi,se  to  interpret,  all  ttat  is  contained  in  the  lucid  and  manifold  evangelical 
narrative ;  until  that  soul  is  as  certain  of  its  Lord,  and  almost  as  intuitive 
of  his  presence,  as  if  the  mount  of  his  glory  burned  yet  in  the  splendors 
that  faded  from  the  eyes  of  the  disciples,  as  if  the  sky  had  not  yet  closed 
behind  the  ascending  form  at  Bethany. 

Then  is  the  -work  of  the  gospels  complete,  for  him  who  studies  them. 
Then  is  the  fruit  of  that  Divine  guidance  by  -which  they  were  prepared 
presented  in  his  surpassing  -experience.  For  then,  in  tlie  light  that  has 
shiucd  from  them  on  the  person  of  the  Lord,  all  things  are  transfigured. 
Life  is  sacred.  Death  is  sweet.  Heroism  is  easy ;  self-sacrifice  a  delight. 
Each ,  work  for  the  Master  becomes  a  worship.  The  eating  of  bread  in 
his  dear  name  is  not  a  form,  nor  an  outward  memorial,  but  a  mystical 
sacrament,  through  which  bis  present  love  is  declared.  The  Church  ex- 
pands to  a  vast  and  vital  fellowship  of  bc-licvers,  knit  together  in  him, — 
many  on  earth,  and  more  on  high.  The  whole  earth  is  a  temple,  since 
the  Lord  hath  been  in  it.  The  grave  is  perfumed,  since  he  there  lay. 
The  Future  is  resplendent  with  immortal  invitations.  Indeed,  that  Future 
is  not  far  off.  It  invests  our  life,  at  such  an  hour,  and  is  prophesied  in  it. 
For  the  experience  then  already  attained  needs  only  to  burst  its  imprisoning 
shell  to  be  revealed  in  all  the  glory  of  the  life  everlasting. 

No  man  has  derived  the  highest  advantage  from  the  study  of  the  gospels, 
till  he  has  known  this  grandest  experience.  No  man  lias  known  this  until 
he  has  studied  them,  not  with  a  common  cursory  cai-elessness,  but  with  pro- 
longed and  searcliing  thoughtfulness,  and  with  the  heart  engaged  to  the  work 
as  well  as  the  intellect.  But  whosoever  has  gained  and  felt  this  has  known 
that  in  it  he  drew  nearer  than  elsewhere  to  the  gates  of  pearl,  and  the  in- 
stant vision  of  the  King  in  his  beauty.  And  ."^o  it  is  that  from  all  the  other 
portions  of  the  Scriptures, — fascinating  as  are  many  of  them  with  narrative 
or  portraiture,  resplendent  as  often  they  are  with  miracle,  or  wondrous  with 
prophecy,  full  as  they  all  are  of  the  truth  of  the  Most  High,  and  its  renova- 
ting power, — the  hearts  of  Christians  instinctively  turn  to  these  which  are 
central  in  the  series.  So  it  is  that  with  each  successive  revival  of  God's 
great  spiritual  work  in  the  world,  the  sign  of  its  coming,  the  pledge  of  its 
reality,  are  found  in  the  fact  that  through  the  gospels  the  person,  the  work 
and  the  character  of  the  Lord  bocome  present  and  paramount  in  men's 
thoughts.     lie  Is  not  to  them,  tlion,  as  at  ether  times  lie  may  have  been,  an 


INTRODUCTION.  XVil 

unrlefiuecl  spirit  of  beauty  and  power,  rising  against  the  eastern  sky.  He  is 
not  a  simple  doctrine  of  forgiveness.  lie  is  not  a  being  wlioin  picture  or 
statue  may  sufficiently  represent,  and  to  whose  shrine  they  who  think  of  and 
honor  him  may  acceptably  bring  gifts  like  those  of  shells,  flowers,  and  amber, 
which  the  royal  sculptor  brought  of  old  to  the  ivory  statue  which  his  hands 
had  fa.shioned.*  The  Lord  to  those  to  whom  he  has  appeared,  revealing  him- 
self through  the  story  of  the  gospels  in  completest  discovery,  that  he  might 
prepare  them,  at  critical  times,  for  his  sublimest  errands  in  the  world,  has 
been  manifest  in  a  purity  which  no  ivory  could  image,  and  a  glory  of  which 
the  sun  itself  were  a  poor  shrine.  An  inspiration  raining  on  them,  from  such 
a  radiant  disclosure  of  him  as  that  to  Stephen  hardly  surpassed,  has  made 
them  too  go  to  labor  or  death  on  his  behalf  with  faces  shining  like  those  of 
angels.  And  then  the  jewels  they  have  offered  to  him  have  been  the  great 
works  of  a  consecrated  life.  The  flowers  they  have  brought  have  been  the 
graces,  amaranthine  and  immortal,  of  souls  renewed  by  a  Divine  love.  They 
have  themselves  sung  his  praises,  as  neither  birds  nor  instruments  could,  amid 
suffering  and  toil,  or  on  the  edge  of  the  grave. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  marked,  as  it  also  is  one  of  the  most  encouraging, 
of  the  signs  of  God's  grace  in  our  years,  that  such  suitable  study  of  the 
life  of  the  Lord  is  now  more  frequent,  and  on  the  whole  more  successful, 
than  for  long  preceding  periods  it  has  been.  This  has  not  come,  as  it  is  a 
fashion  with  some  to  say,  from  the  fact  that  skeptics  have  made  their  most 
fierce  and  frequent  attacks  in  these  recent  years  on  the  record  of  the  gospels. 
That  has  also  been  painfully  true.  But  the  movement  among  Christians 
toward  the  more  profound  and  affectionate  study  of  the  same  supreme  record 

*  There  are  multitudes,  no  doubt,  in  the  Roman  Communion  wlio  hold  with  one 
of  the  purest  and  noblest  of  its  English  adherents  (Faber)  that  "to  make  Jesus 
better  known  is  to  make  him  better  loved,  and  the  love  of  Jesus  is  the  sanctity  of 
the  Church."  But  one  tfho  enters  a  chapel  of  that  Communion,  and  looks  upon  the 
crucifix,  with  the  offerings  before  it,  can  hardly  help  sometimes  being  painfully  re- 
minded of  those  lines  of  Ovid,  describing  the  effort  of  Pygmalion  to  awaken  into 
life  and  love  his  ivory  image  : 

Munera  fert  illi  conchas,  teretesque  lapillos, 

Et  parvas  volucres,  ct  florcs  mille  colorum, 

Lilliaque,  pictasque  pilas,  et  ab  arbore  lapsas 

Heliadum  lacrynias.     Ornat  quoquc  vestibus  artus. 

Dat  digitis  gemmas  ;  longoque  monilia  coUo. — Met.  x :  2C0-4. 
2 


XVlll  INTRODUCTiOX. 

preceded  such  attacks,  and  was  tlieir  oceaf^ion  instead  of  their  conpef{uencc. 
Peculiar  outbreaks  of  hostile  passion  from  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  against 
the  kingdom  of  light  and  peace,  attended  the  appearance  of  the  Lord  on 
the  earth ;  as  if  the  forces  that  wrought  to  resist  him  had  hecn  held  in  re- 
serve for  that  critical  hour,  to  he  then  precipitated,  in  fiercest  assault  of 
infernal  phalanx,  on  the  field  of  his  Divine  operations.  The  very  sky  of  Pal- 
estine looks  lurid,  its  sod  seems  teeming,  ■with  malign  shapes  and  glancing 
fijrures  swift  for  evil,  as  we  revert  to  the  years  when  he  walked  there.  And 
so  in  our  time  more  energies  are  combined  against  the  records  which  testify 
of  him  because  amid  these  he  appears,  to  minds  made  fresldy  attentive  to 
him,  more  clearly  and  grandly  than  before.  The  claim  which  he  urges  on 
the  fervent  faith  and  the  utmost  obedience  of  those  to  whom  he  manifests 
God  is  more  evident  as  his  portrait  is  m^ore  carefully  studied.  And  those 
■who  hold  his  claim  fictitious,  and  his  government  undesirable,  must  therefore 
shatter  if  they  can,  or  darken  and  scratch  if  they  can  not  do  more,  this  won- 
drous mirror  of  his  perfections. 

But  the  effort  will  be  fruitless,  now  as  before ;  and  the  very  wrath  that 
would  have  nailed  these  life-giving  narratives  to  the  cross  of  a  destructive 
criticism  will  be  made  in  the  end,  as  it  has  in  a  measure  already  been,  to 
assist  their  triumph.  The  Aliyssinian  Christians  have  canonized  Pilate. 
The  future  more  enlightened  Christendom  will  recognize  the  real,  though 
alas  I  the  unintended  service,  rendered  to  the  gospels,  and  so  to  the  Christian 
culture  of  mankind,  by  those  who  if  they  could  would  have  buried  these 
gospels,  without  ointments  or  spices,  in  a  sepulchre  to  be  broken  by  no 
resurrection. 

The  movement  among  Christians  toward  a  more  intent  study  and  a  wider 
appreciation  of  the  life  of  the  Lord,  has  had  its  source  in  an  impulse  of  God's 
Spirit.  But  it  has  been  aided  by  the  reflex  action  of  those  Christian  missions 
■which  have  been  so  suddenly  and  so  immensely  extended  in  the  last  half- 
centuiy.  The  ])reacher  of  Christ  among  the  heathen  has  found  not  his  own 
inspiration  alone,  but  the  instrument  of  his  chiefest  power  in  converting  men 
to  God,  in  the  story  of  the  Cross.  And  the  story  of  the  Cross  implies  that 
of  Bethlehem,  and  of  all  which  intervened  between  the  manger  and  the 
t]irone.  Patiently,  therefore,  with  most  absorbed  and  affectionate  study, 
have  many  of  these  watchers  and  workers  for  the  Lord  on  darkened  shores 
explored  the  story  of  the  Master,  to  put  him  by  God's  help  before  themselves 


INTKODUCTIOX.  xix 

iu  the  wondrous  hyntbc^is  of  his  glories,  and  tlicn  to  be  able  to  present  him 
to  others  in  a  like  revelation  of  his  Divine  life.  And  from  them  has  come 
the  bright  influence  back  oa  those  from  whom  they  liad  gone  out,  to  inspire 
tbem  to  a  similar  study.  -Kevivals  at  home  have  been  quickened  and 
■widened  by  this  influence,  and  have  conspicuously  borne  its  impress.  The 
preaching  of  the  doctrines,  declared  iu  the  Epistles,  has  not  been  neglected. 
The  application  of  the  rules  of  righteousness  in  the  Bible  to  human  affairs 
hits  been  only  more  searching  than  before.  But  the  vivid  and  various 
preaching  of  Christ  has  given  peculiar  lustre  and  power  to  the  Protr-stant 
pulpit  in  these  late  years  ;  and  Christians  have  found  themselves  edified  most, 
and  men  wlio  had  not  known  the  Lord  have  been  most  quickly  and  deeply 
stirred,  as  he  who  came  to  be  their  Saviour,  who  shall  come  hereafter  to  be 
their  Judge,  has  been,  through  discourses  which  were  richer  and  more 
quickening  than  the  costliest  pictures,  presented  to  them. 

So  it  is  that  the  diligent  study  of  the  gospels  is  now  wider,  perhaps,  than 
it  ever  has  been.  So  it  is  that  the  attacks  made  upon  them  are  more  desper- 
ate. So  it  is  that  the  question  '  whether  Christ  made  the  Church,  or  the 
Churcb  has  made  him,' — whether,  as  Owen  stated  it  in  his  day,  "  he,  being 
God,  was  made  man  for  our  sakes,  or,  being  only  a  man,  was  made  a  god  for  his 
own  sake,"* — has  been  more  profoundly  and  eagerly  discussed  than  it  has 
been  since  the  Council  of  Nice.  And  so  it  is,  through  a  clearer  and  more 
general  revelation  of  the  Lord  to  the  mind  of  mankind,  that  the  infinite 
Spirit  is  now  working  in  the  earth  to  bring  in  the  final  glory  of  his  reign. 
It  is  among  the  brightest  signs  of  that  approaching  Millennial  day  of  light  and 
love  for  which  the  world  still  waits  and  moans,  and  which  the  Church  surely 
expects,  that  He  of  whom  the  martyrs  witnessed,  and  in  whose  holy  faith  and 
service  millions  of  men  have  nobly  lived  and  gladly  died,  is  more  plainly 
declared  from  press  and  pulpit,  is  more  evidently  seen  through  the  Scriptural 
record,  than  for  centuries  he  has  been.  A  new  spiritual  coming  and  triumph 
of  the  Lord  are  surely  to  be  evolved  from  this  closer  struggle  of  his  holy 
kingdom  with  the  kingdom  of  evil.  God  hasten  it,  in  His  gi'ace  !  to  His 
own  honor,  and  the  infinite  rest  and  welfare  of  the  world. 

The  volume  to  which  these  pages  are  introductory  has  been  prepared  in 
the  spirit  of  the  thoughts  so  imperfectly  uttered.     It  is  itself  a  manifestation 

*  Works,  vol.  1,  p.  32G ;  Edin.  Ed. 


XX  l^JTKODUCTIOX. 

of  the  tendency  so  wiJe,  and  so  Ijcnelieent,  to  wliicli  reference  has  been 
made.  It  has  been  written  for  the  people,  by  one  whose  office  and  joy  it  is 
to  minister  to  them  the  things  of  Christ.  The  fruit  of  much  thought, 
and  of  many  judicious  and  enhghtening  studies,  written  in  a  spirit  most 
loyal  and  reverential  toward  him  whom  it  would  represent,  and  presentino-  in 
an  emphatic  and  animated  style  the  results  of  a  scholarly  and  .sympathetic 
investigation  of  the  primitive  documents  which  portray  his  hfe,  as  well  as  of 
what  in  later  days  has  been  written  about  them, — I  can  not  doubt  that  it  will 
circulate  widely,  and  will  bear  a  useful  and  an  honorable  part  in  the  work  to 
which  it  is  meant  to  contribute  May  God  accept  and  crown  it,  to  this  end, 
with  his  favor  and  blessing!  May  he  who  was  'the  Desire  of  Nations,' 
and  who  is  the  King  and  Lord  of  mankind,  accept  the  intention  in  which  it 
originated,  and  the  diligent  fidelity  with  which  it  has  been  prepared,  as  a 
tribute  of  worship  to  himself!  And  may  that  Sphit  of  grace  and  truth 
whom  he  sends  forth,  so  attend  it  with  His  influence  that  it  shall  be  the 
means  of  implanting,  or  of  nourishing  and  renewing,  in  many  hearts,  that 
most  transforming  and  heavenly  passion  of  which  Coleridge  has  so  excellently 
said  :  "Christian  love  is  the  last  and  the  divinest  birth,  the  harmony,  unity, 
and  godlike  transfiguration,  of  all  the  vital,  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual 
powers.  Now  it  manifests  itself  as  the  sparkling  and  ebullient  spring  of 
well-doing,  in  gifts  and  in  labors ;  and  now  as  a  silent  fountain  of  patience 
and  long-suffering,  the  fulness  of  which  no  hatred  or  persecution  can  exhaust 
or  diminish." 

God  grant  such  love  to  all  who  read  these  lines  which  descrdje  it ;  and 
"  unto  Him  be  glory  in  the  Church,  by  Christ  Jesus,  throughout  all  ages, 
world  without  end.     Amen." 

R.  S.  STORRS,  Jr.. 

Brooklyn,  February  5,  1868. 


PART    I. 


1 11 1  r  o  (1  u  c  t  o  r  y. 


CHAPTER    I. 

RATIONALISTIC    LIVES    OF    CHRIST. 

Christ's  existence  on  earth,  the  great  fact  of  history — queries 
AS  to  the  world's  history  without  it — its  history,  for  fifteen 

HUNDRED  YEARS,  THE  HISTORY  OF  CHRISTENDOM — CHRISTIANITY,  NOT 
A  DEAD  OR  DECAYED  RELIGION — MUST  BE  ACCOUNTED  FOR  BY  THE 
RATIONALIST — THE  ATTEMPT,  REPEATEDLY  MADE — GIBBON,  PAULUS, 
SEMLER,  AND  OTHERS  —  STRAUSS'  "LIFE  OF  JESUS  " — ITS  PRODIGIOUS 
SUCCESS  —  COMPARATIVE  FAILURE  OF  HIS  "  LIFE  OF  JESUS  POPULARLY* 
treated" — STRAUSS  AS  AN  OPPONENT  OF  CHRISTIANITY — RENAN'S 
"LIFE  OF  JESUS  " — HIS  GENERAL  METHOD — IT  EVINCES  NO  PROPER 
SINCERITY — ITS  DEDICATION — ITS  EULOGIES  OF  CHRIST — RENAN'S  WORK 
OF  INCIDENTAL  SERVICE  TO  CHRISTIANITY — GRANTS  THE  AUTHENTICITY 
OF  THE  GOSPELS  —  CONCEDES  THE  HONESTY  OF  THE  EVANGELISTS  — 
RENAN'S  denial  of  THEIR  HISTORIC  VALIDITY — RATIONALISM  DE- 
VOURS   ITS    CHILDREN. 

"What  shall  I  do  with  Jesus  who  is  called  Christ?" 
Pilate  could  not  evade  the  question ;  neither  can  we. 
Something:  7nust  be  done  with  Jesus  who  is  called  Christ. 

That  Jesus  once  lived  on  the  earth  is  confessedly  the 
most  important  fact  in  history.  Why,  indeed,  has  no 
philosopher  attempted  to  write  the  history  of  the  world 
as  it  would  have  gone  on,  had  Jesus  never  been  born  ? 
What  civilization  would  have  replaced  that  of  Rome, 
already  in  the  "  sere  and  yellow  leaf"  when  He  appeared  ? 
What  religion  would  have  built  itself  up  on  the  ruins  of 
the  Pantheon  ?  What  art,  if  any,  would  have  flourished 
after  the  decay  of  Greek  painting,  sculpture  and  archi- 
tecture ?  What  literature  would  have  sprung  up  out  of 
the  rich  mould  of  the  dead  classics  ? 


24  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST 

Perhaps  the  problem  is  too  deep  fur  philosophy  to  deal 
with;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Jesus  turned  the 
stream  of  world-history  into  a  new  channel.  During  the 
last  fifteen  hundred  3'ears,  at  least,  the  history  of  the  world 
has  been  the  history  of  Christendom  j  that  is  to  say,  of  that 
portion  of  the  world  which  has  been  most  profoundly 
moved  and  moulded  by  Christianity.  The  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  millions  are  to-day  inspired  by  Christ,  whom, 
not  having  seen  they  love ;  whom  they  adore  and  serve 
as  a  livinti:  Master  and  Lord.  The  intellectual  activities 
and  social  movements  of  the  age  are,  to  a  large  extent, 
quickened  and  determined  by  the  mind  of  Jesus.  What- 
ever sciolists  may  say  touching  the  decay  or  eclipse  of 
faith, — and  they  are  doubtless  competent  to  sp)eak  for 
•themselves, — Christianity  is  not  dead ;  neither  is  its  glory 
extinguished ;  but  it  is  still,  in  human  hearts  and  in  hu- 
man society,  not  only  a  vital  force  of  wide  and  wondrous 
energy,  but  "  the  master-light  of  all  their  seeing." 

Else,  why  is  it  so  bitterly  assailed  ?  Do  men  wage  war 
against  noisome  carcasses  and  "  old  clothes  ?" *  None  are 
more  conscious  than  the  enemies  of  the  gospel  that  it  is 
a  living  and  powerful  reality.  Of  this,  their  virulent  and 
ever-growing  hostility  is  a  sufficient  proof  They  are 
witnesses  that  our  holy  religion  is  not  age-stricken  and 
feeble,  but  full  of  youthful  vigor,  and  is  even  now  buck- 
ling on  its  armor  for  glorious  war,  for  universal  conquest. 

Now  such  a  religion  must  be  accounted  for  by  those 
who  deny  its  supernatural  origin.  The  problem  ]3resses 
itself  upon  them;  it  refuses  to  be  put  by;  it  has  become 
a  sphinx-riddle  ;  they  must  solve  it  or  die. 

With  this  prol)lem  modern  unbelievers  have  repeatedly 
and  vigorously  grappled.  Gibbon,  in  his  disingenuous  way, 
attempted  it  In  his  celebrated  Fifteenth  Chapter.     His 


*Sf. 


ee  Carlyle,  pai^sim. 


RATIONALISTIC    LIVES    OF    CllIlIST.  25 

acknowledged  ftiilure  did  not  discourage  later  assailants. 
Semler,  Paulus,  and  other  German  rationalists,  pretended 
to  demonstrate  that  Christianity  was  a  natural  and  in- 
Gvitable  product  of  the  normal,  historic  development  of 
mankind ;  and  that  its  existence,  its  wide  diflusion,  its 
prodigious  power,  its  heavenly  spirit,  and  its  victorious 
persistency  through  so  many  ages  of  conflict  and  persecu- 
tion, could  all  be  accounted  for  without  reference  to  any 
special  divine  intervention.  The  earlier  rationalists,  how- 
ever, were  comparatively  feeble  and  cowardly.  It  was 
reserved  for  our  own  century  to  produce  the  ablest  and 
most  determined  foes  that  Christianity  has  ever  encount- 
ered. Two  celebrated  waiters  of  our  own  time  have 
assailed  the  gospel  with  such  imposing  erudition,  such 
splendor  of  rhetoric,  such  amazing  audacity,  and  such  re- 
lentless hate,  that  the  names  of  their  predecessors  in  the 
same  unholy  crusade  are  now  scarcely  remembered.  I 
refer,  of  course,  to  David  Frederic  Strauss  and  Ernest 
Renan. 

The  '^^ Life  of  Jesus"  by  Strauss,  published  in  1835, 
■created  a  prodigious  sensation.  Addressed  only  to  the 
learned,  it  ran  through  innumerable  cheap  editions,  both 
in  German  and  English,  and  was  eagerly  read,  not  only 
by  students  in  tlie  universities,  but  also  by  travelers  on 
steam-boats,  by  artisans  and  tradesmen  in  their  shops,  and 
even  by  women  and  children  in  the  dom.estic  circle.  A 
vast  and  motley  audience  hung  upon  his  lips  with  min- 
gled terror,  wonder  and  delight.  To  his  own  amazement, 
Strauss,  like  Byron,  "  awoke  one  morning  and  found  him- 
self famous."  He  had  given  voice  to  a  wide-spread,  wait- 
ing skepticism,  the  growth  of  ages  of  superstition  and 
formalism.  Infidels  everywhere  claimed  a  decisive  vic- 
tory, and  not  a  few  sincere  believers  were  staggered  and 
disheartened.  Strauss'  "  mythical  theory  "  was  so-  plausi- 
ble, his  criticism  was  so  cold-blooded  and  malignant,  and 


2G  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

his  attacks  on  the  Christ  of  the  gospels  were  so  daring 
and  defiant,  tliat  tlie  shock  which  he  gave  to  the  rehgious 
sentiment  of  the  world  was  like  that  of  an  earthquake. 

Thirty  years  only  have  elapsed,  and  the  same  writei 
sends  forth  a  ^' Life  of  Jesus  Fojmlarly  Treated"  It 
makes  no  sensation;  it  sinks  quietly  and  quickly  into 
oblivion ; — a  curious  and  significant  phenomenon.  The 
flict  is,  that,  while  Strauss  utterly  demolished  the  ration- 
alistic systems  of  his  predecessors,  demonstrating  that 
they  had  failed  to  comprehend  the  life  and  personality 
of  Jesus,  his  own  theory  of  the  myth  has,  in  its  turn,  been 
overthrown  and  ground  to  powder  by  recent  skeptics. 
Renan,  by  conceding  the  substantial  genuineness  of  the 
four  gospels,  even  that  of  John,  and  by  broaching  the 
theory  of  legendary  history,  has  confessed  that  the  posi- 
tion of  Strauss  is  no  longer  tenable.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, notwithstanding  his  failure  to  reconstruct  the  life 
of  Christ  on  natural  principles, — even  he  could  not  accom- 
plish the  impossible, — is  incomparably  the  most  learned 
and  skillful  opponent  that  Christianity  has  ever  met. 
His  signal  defeat  serves  to  display,  to  the  joy  of  believers 
and  the  confusion  of  adversaries,  the  impregnable  strength 
of  the  gospel. 

Kenan's  "  Life  of  Jesus  "  has  produced  a  sensation  less 
profound,  but  even  more  wide-spread  than  that  of  Strauss. 
It  is  the  production  of  a  scholar  and  a  man  of  genius,  but 
displays  less  logical  acuteness  and  strength  than  splendor 
and  versatility  of  fancy.  It  is,  indeed,  the  most  brilliant 
and  unsatisfying  of  French  novels.  Few,  even  among  its 
admirers,  would  be  bold  enough  to  call  it  history.  The 
author  himself  disclaims  a  severe,  historical  method.  He 
avowedly  adopts  the  "  method  of  art."  He  invokes  the 
"  exquisite  tact  of  Goethe"  as  his  guide.  He  speaks  with 
contempt  of  scrupulous  attention  to  "the  certainty  of 
minutiae;"  he  deems  it  necessary  to  divine  and  conjee- 


RATIONALISTIC    LIVES    OF    CHRIST.  27 

ture ;  and  lie  extok,  as  the  principal  excellence  of  his- 
torical writing,  "  the  justness  of  the  general  idea  and  the 
truth  of  the  coloring."  He  commends  "  the  artistic  inter- 
pretation and  gentle  solicitation  of  texts."  He  rejects 
certain  sayings  of  our  Lord  as  recorded  by  John,  because 
he  regards  them  as  "  unendurable  to  a  man  of  taste  by 
the  side  of  the  delicious  sayings  of  the  synoptics."  Re- 
nan's  book,  as  he  himself  intimates,  is  an  "  art-creation  " 
rather  than  a  history.  Bearing  in  mind  his  avowed  prin- 
ciples of  composition,  and  especially  his  dislike  of  "  petty 
certainty  in  matters  of  detail,"  w^e  may  read  his  work 
with  real  though  not  unmeasured  admiration  of  his  art- 
istic skill,  while  we  cannot  but  deplore  his  manifest  lack 
of  reverence  and  truthfulness. 

It  is  painful  to  be  under  the  necessity  of  pronouncing 
so  severe  a  judgment,  but  one  cannot  help  feeling,  that 
the  "  Life  of  Jesus  "  is  marked  throughout  by  insincerity. 
For  example,  the  dedication  to  the  spirit  of  his  sister  can 
not  mean  what  it  seems  to  mean ;  for  the  writer  does 
not  believe  in  personal  immortality;  nor  indeed  in  any 
intelligence  superior  to  man.  The  dedication,  therefore, 
is  nothing  but  a  piece  of  rhetorical  frost-work  colored 
with  French  sentiment.  So  also  his  eulogies  on  Christ 
are,  for  the  most  part,  unmeaning  prettinesses.  His  wish 
to  impart  a  romantic  interest  to  his  book,  has  led  him 
to  suggest  certain  conjectures  touching  the  relations  be- 
tween Jesus  and  the  noble  women  of  Galilee,  which  can 
not  but  strike  a  Christian  mind  as  inexpressibly  shocking. 
All  this  may  be  art, — and  it  is  eminently  French  art, — but 
it  is  not  history. 

Renan  abounds  in  references  to  authorities  which  are 
quite  inaccessible  to  the  majority  of  even  learned  readers. 
He  quotes  largely  from  books  that  are  locked  up  in  ori- 
ental languages.  Perhaps  he  quotes  honestly  and  fairly ; 
but  his  citations  from  less  recondite  authorities  so  often 


28  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

prove  to  be  inconclusive  and  inicaiKlicI,  that  our  confi- 
dence in  his  general  reliability  is  sadly  shaken.  We  find 
so  much  of  the  "  artistic  treatment  and  gentle  solicitation 
of  texts,"  that  we  hesitate  to  trust  him  in  any  case  where 
a  polemic  or  even  an  {esthetic  interest  is  involved.  So 
much  for  his  general  character  as  a  biographer. 

Incidentally,  Renan  has  rendered  a  signal  service  to 
the  cause  of  truth.  He  has  the  candor  to  acknowledge 
the  apostolic  origin  of  the  gospels.  He  admits  that  they 
were  written  "  during  the  second  half  of  the  first  cen- 
tury." As  to  Luke,  "doubt  is  hardly  possible ;"  he  "was 
a  companion  of  St.  Paul,"  "  a  man  of  the  second  apostolic 
generation,"  and  he  wrote  his  history  "soon  after  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem."  He  assigns  a  prior  date  to  Matthew 
and  Mark,  and  concedes  that  the  gospel  according  to  the 
latter,  especially,  has  come  down  to  us  substantially  as 
he  wrote  it.  Though  he  is  scarcely  consistent  with  him- 
self when  speaking  of  the  fourth  gospel,  he  seems,  on  the 
whole,  not  to  doubt  that  it  is  essentially  the  work  of  the 
apostle  John,  against  whom,  however,  he  betrays  a  singu- 
larly bitter  prejudice. 

This  is  not  all :  Eenan  admits  the  moral  honesty  of  the 
authors  of  the  gospels.  While  he  intimates  that  they  did 
not  hold  our  strict  modern  and  occidental  notions  of  his- 
toric veracity,  he  grants  that  they  were  good  and  well- 
meaning  men,  who  did  not  intend  to  act  the  part  of  false 
witnesses.  Whatever  may  have  been  their  infirmities  and 
errors,  they  were  not  guilty  of  wilful  misrepresentation 
and  imposture. 

Why,  then,  the  reader  is  ready  to  ask,  does  Renan  deny 
the  leading  events  recorded  by  the  evangelists?  Why 
does  he  pronounce  the  gospels  unhistorical  and  legend- 
ary? Not  because  he  has  brought  to  light  any  histori- 
cal evidence  by  whicli  their  testimony  is  impugned  and 
their  credibility  destroyed;  but  solel}^  on  a  priori  grounds. 


RATIONALISTIC    LIVES    OF    CHRIST.  20 

He  lays  clown  a  inetapliysical  dogma  as  a  fundamental 
canon  of  historical  criticism ;  he  declares  that  no  amount 
of  testimony  can  prove  a  miracle;  and,  as  the  gospels 
narrate  many  events  of  a  miraculous  nature,  he  pro- 
nounces them  for  that  reason  alone  unhistorical.  "In 
the  name   of  constant    experience,  we  banish  miracles 

from  history Till  we  have  new  light,  we  shall 

maintain  this  principle  of  historical  criticism,  that  a  su- 
pernatural relation  can  not  be  accepted  as  such ;  that  it 
always  implies  credulity  or  imposture  ;  that  the  duty  of 
the  historian  is  to  interpret  it,  and  to  seek  what  portion 
of  truth  and  what  portion  of  error  it  may  contain."* 
Whether  this  is  to  be  accepted  as  an  authoritative  canon 
of  historical  criticism,  will  be  considered  hereafter ;  it  is 
sufficient  to  note  here,  that  Renan,  like  Strauss  before 
him,  assumes  it  without  argument.  Both,  therefore,  beg 
the  question  at  issue. 

Eationalism  devours  her  own  children.  Semler  and 
Paulus  were  annihilated  by  Strauss ;  Strauss,  notwith- 
standing his  leviathan-scales,  is  crushed  by  Renan ;  the 
next  champion  of  infidelity,  will  put  an  end  to  Renan 
himself.  Meanwhile,  the  glor}^  of  the  historic  Christ  is 
growing  more  resplendent,  and  His  truth  is  surely  ad- 
vancing towards  universal  empire ;  for  He  must  reign 
till  He  hath  put  all  enemies  under  His  feet."  f 

*  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  page  45.  1 1.  Cormtbians  sv.  25. 


CHAPTER    II. 

IXVIOLABILITY  OF  THE  LAWS  OF  NATURE  AS  RELATED 
TO   iMIRACLES. 

ACCEPTANCE  OF  THE  SUPERNATURAL,  NECESSARY  TO  A  JUST  LIFE  OF 
CHRIST — THE  PRESENT  AVORK,  BASED  ON  THE  REALITY  OF  MIRACLES  — 
REASONS  FOR  THE  SCEPTIC'S  DENIAL  OF  THEIR  REALITY — VAGUENESS 
OF  THE  RATIONALISTIC  USE  OF  THE  TERMS,  "  NATURE,"  "  LAWS  OF 
NATURE  "  AND  "  MIRACLES  " — WHAT  IS  TO  RE  UNDERSTOOD  BY  "  NA- 
TURE," AS  THEY  APPLY  THE  TERM — NO  DESIGN  TO  ADVANCE  ANY 
PARTICULAR     THEORY    OF    "NATURE" — WHAT     IS    TO    BE     UNDERSTOOD 

BY     THE     "LAWS     OF     NATURE" INVIOLABILITY     OF     THE     LAWS     OF 

NATURE,  PROBABLY  ABSOLUTE — WHETHER  MIRACLES  DO  INVOLVE  A 
VIOLATION  OF  THE  LAWS  OF  NATURE — THE  LAWS  OF  NATURE  ADMIT 
OF  THE  OPERATION  OF  SUPERNATURAL  FORCES — FIRST  ILLUSTRATION — 
NATURE  OF  THE  FORCE  DISCOVERED — ^^SECOND  ILLUSTRATION — NATURE 
OF  THE  FORCE  OBSERVED,  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  INVIOLABILITY 
OF  NATURAL  LAAV — APPLICATION  TO  SUPERNATURAL  AGENCIES — FUR- 
THER ILLUSTRATION,  AND  INFERENCES — NATURE'S  HIGHEST  LAW,  ITS 
CAPABILITY   OF    BEING    MODIFIED    BY   SPIRITUAL   AGENCIES. 

It  has  been  seen,  that  the  rationahstic  writers  men- 
tioned in  the  previous  chapter,  agree  in  denying  the 
crediljiHty  of  miracles.  With  such  a  denial  the  author 
of  this  work  has  no  sympathy.  On  the  contrary,  he  is 
profoundly  convinced,  that  no  man  who  rejects  the  super- 
natural, can  construct  a  "  Life  of  Jesus"  which  the  world 
will  accept  as  possiljle,  or  even  as  permanently  interest- 
ing as  a  work  of  art.  There  was  more,  infinitely  more  in 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  than  Strauss  or  Renan  ever  saw, — 
more  than  they  could  see,  prejudiced,  as  they  were,  against 
the  supernatund  element  in  the  gospels. 

Hence,  what  is  here  urged  throughout,  is  based  on  a 
denial  that  miracles  are  impossible,  or  that  they  are  in- 


LAWS  OF  NATUIIE  AS  RELATED  TO  MIRACLES.    31 

capable  of  proof.  It  contends  that  the  miracles  recorded 
in  the  gospels  are  credible,  and  that  they  are  sufliciently 
attested  to  take  rank  as  proper  historic  facts.  It  proceeds 
on  the  fundamental  assumption  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a 
supernatural  Being ;  that  He  entered  into  the  line  of  trans- 
mitted humanity  in  a  miraculous  way  ;  that  His  teachings 
were  dictated  by  the  Holy  Ghost  dwelling  in  Him  without 
measure ;  that  the  mighty  works  ascribed  to  Him  were 
actually  wrought;  that,  having  suffered  death  on  the 
cross,  He  actually  rose  from  the  dead  and  ascended  into 
heaven.  All  these  are  accepted  and  set  forth  in  the  fol- 
lowing chapters,  as  essential  facts  in  the  history  of  Christ. 

In  proceeding  to  show,  as  the  ground  of  this  assumption, 
that  there  is  no  such  scientific  incompatibility  between 
nature  and  the  supernatural  in  the  life  of  Christ,  as  ration- 
alists assert,  w^e  ask,  first,  why  do  they  deny  the  credibility 
of  miracles  ?  Because,  in  their  opinion,  a  miracle  involves 
a  violation  or  suspension  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and  all 
experience  goes  to  show,  that  those  laws  are  absolutely 
inviolable.  Such,  in  their  view,  is  the  connection  be- 
tween natural  phenomena,  and  so  firm  and  unalterable 
is  the  order  of  nature,  that  a  single  physical  result,  pro- 
duced by  a  supernatural  cause,  would  derange  the  whole 
system.  They  regard  the  supremacy,  the  universality, 
the  inviolability  of  natural  laws,  as  established  by  the 
inductive  sciences  ;  and,  moulded  by  those  sciences  as  their 
entire  habits  of  thougl^t  have  been,  they  can  not  easily 
accept  the  idea  of  supernatural  causation  or  miraculous 
occurrences  in  the  system  of  nature. 

The  first  noticeable  fact  in  the  reasonings  of  this 
class  of  writers,  is  the  exceeding  vagueness  and  ambiguity 
of  the  terms  employed,  and  the  absence  of  any  thorough 
attempt  to  correct  this  evil  by  exact  definition.  What  is 
meant  by  the  terms,  miracle,  laws  of  nature,  nature  itself? 
The  word  "nature"  is,  perhaps,  the  most  ambiguous  in 


32  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

use.  It  is  applied  to  all  possible  objects  of  thought, — to  the 
elements ;  to  plants  and  animals ;  to  beings  material  and 
spiritual ;  to  men,  angels,  and  even  to  God  hunself. 

Yery  clearly,  however,  the  argument  against  miracles 
employs  the  term  in  a  restricted  sense.  As  thus  em- 
ployed, it  must  include  only  the  material  world; — the 
world  of  physical  causes  and  effects,  or,  in  other  words, 
of  sensible  phenomena.  If  there  is  a  world  of  spiritual 
beings  or  agencies,  it  is  not  included ;  it  does  not  come 
within  the  realm  of  the  natural ;  it  is  altogether  out 
of  a;nj]  aljoye  nature  ;  it  is  supernatural.  The  term  nature, 
as  used  by  the  rationalistic  objector  to  miracles,  has  then 
no  proper  application  to  spiritual  beings, — to  personal  in- 
telligences ;  but  touches  and  includes  only  the  Avorld  of 
material  or  sensible  things.  Hence  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind,  that,  in  this  discussion,  it  will  ])e  employed  oxAy  in 
this  restricted  sense. 

Now,  it  is  not  the  intention  here  to  advance  any  par- 
ticular theory  as  to  the  constitution  of  nature.  "  If  the 
new  doctrine  of  the  persistency  of  force, — the  correlation 
of  forces,  as  Mr.  Grote  calls  it, — should  be  established ;  if 
all  phenomena  of  matter  should  be  found  to  be  due  to 
varieties  of  motion,  to  be  varied  manifestations  of  one 
essence,  our  present  discussion  would  not  be  sensibly  af- 
fected. We  proceed  upon  the  position  that  matter  is  an 
entity  manifesting  forces,  though  requiring  the  direct  sus- 
tenance and  co-AYorking  of  the  power  of  God."* 

What,  now,  is  meant  by  the  "laws  of  nature?"  As 
thus  applied,  the  word  law  is  obviously  figurative.  Our 
primary  notion  of  law  comes  from  the  consciousness  of 
duty, — from  the  feeling  of  o])ligation  to  act  according  to 
some  authoritative  rule.  Hence,  the  term  law  properly 
signifies  a  rule  of  action.     When  we  survey  the  natural 

*  Fisher's  Essays,  page  476. 


LAWS    OF    NATURE    AS    RELATED    TO    MIIIACLES.  33 

world, — the  world  of  sense,  let  it  be  remembered, — we 
are  struck  with  the  appearance  everywhere  of  forces  in 
constant  operation.  A  closer  observation  convinces  us, 
that  those  Ibrces  do  not  operate  hap-hazard,  but  with  well- 
determined  regularity ;  that  is  to  say,  they  appear  to  act 
in  systematic  accordance  with  certain  laws.  Phenomena 
are  so  linked  together  in  nature,  that  they  present  to  our 
view  striking  uniformities,  which,  seized  upon  by  the  in- 
tellect, and  reduced  to  their  sunplest  expressions,  are 
called  laws  of  nature.  Having  discovered  many  such 
uniformities,  and  finding  them  embraced  in  a  homogene- 
ous scheme,  we  term  the  classified  aggregate  of  their 
statements,  science.  Many  other  of  these  uniformities  of 
action,  or  laws  of  nature,  doubtless  remain  as  yet  en- 
tirely unknown,  or  are  only  dimly  shadowed  forth  in 
phenomena  still  waiting  to  be  interpreted,  and  to  be  in- 
corporated into  science. 

Now,  with  regard  to  these  laws  of  nature,  it  can  not  be 
denied,  that,  as  hitherto  ascertained,  they  seem  to  be 
fixed  and  invariable.  Causes  and  effects  are  linked  to- 
gether in  a  uniform  order  of  succession.  The  presump- 
tion naturally  is,  that  this  uniform  or  invariable  succession 
is  only  a  relation  and  action,  accordant  with  uniform  or 
invariable  laws.  It  is,  hence,  so  probable  that  the  law^s  of 
nature  are  invariable,  that,  while  those  who  deny  their 
ever  having  been  suspended  or  violated  by  the  Creator, 
may  be  over-bold,  the  tendency  of  true  science  is  to  pal- 
liate their  denial, — perhaps,  even  to  justify  it.  It  is 
indeed  quite  possible  that,  at  no  distant  day,  this  absolute 
inviolability  of  the  laws  of  nature  may  be  so  satisfactorily 
established,  as  to  command  the  assent  of  every  thoughtful 
theologian. 

The  question  now  arises,  whether  a  miracle  really  in- 
volves a  violation  of  natural  laws.  It  is,  of  course,  ad- 
mitted, or  rather  insisted  upon,  that  no  miracle  can  be 
3 


34  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

properly  ascribed  to  a  physical  cause ;  but  it  is  as  strenu- 
ously insisted  upon,  that  no  law  of  nature  is  violated  by 
a  true  miracle.  The  Scriptures,  it  must  be  remembered, 
make  no  mention  whatever  of  "laws  of  nature;"  much 
less  do  they  intimate,  that  any  such  laws  were  violated  by 
the  "  signs  and  wonders  "  which  they  record.  They  ascribe 
those  signs  and  wonders  to  a  divine  or,  at  least,  a  super- 
natural agency ;  but,  they  are  far  from  giving  any  sanction 
to  the  doctrine  that,  in  working  miracles,  God  has  sus- 
pended or  violated  those  laws  which  he  ordained  at  the 
beginning,  for  the  government  of  the -world. 

But  is  it  a  law  of  nature  that  spiritual  forces  shall  in 
no  case,  operate  upon  or  among  physical  causes,  so  as  to 
bring  to  pass  material  phenomena  which  otherwise  would 
not  have  taken  place  ?  On  the  contrary,  it  is  here  affirmed, 
that  there  are  intelligent,  supernatural  agents,  who  can 
and  do  produce  phenomena  in  nature  without  violating 
or  suspending  its  laws.  It  is  maintained  that  the  natural 
world  is  so  constituted,  so  adjusted  and  configured  to  the 
supernatural  sphere,  as  to  admit  the  presence,  and  come 
under  the  operation  of  spiritual  forces,  without  any  de- 
rangement of  its.  own  order. 

As  a  means  of  gradually  approaching  the  desired  con- 
clusion, let  us  resort  to  a  famihar  illustration  of  the  gen- 
eral principle,  that  a  spiritual  force  may  cause  physical 
phenomena,  without  disturbing  natural  laws.  The  well- 
known  anecdote  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  and  the  apple,  while 
probably  apocryphal,  is  still  in  point,  as  such  an  illustra- 
tion. Walking  in  his  orchard,  and  observing  an  apple 
fall  from  a  tree,  he  was  led  by  this  fact,  into  a  track  of 
investigation  which  resulted  in  the  grandest  scientific  dis- 
covery of  the  age, — the  law  of  gravitation.  But  wliat 
was  the  process  of  thought  by  which  he  reached  the  grand 
result?  We  may  presume  it  to  have  been  something  like 
the  following.     What  he  saw  was  simply  the  apple  mov- 


LAWS   OF    XATURE    AS    KELATED    TO    MIRACLES.  35 

ing  tliroiigli  the  space  between  the  bough  on  which  it 
grew,  and  the  ground  beneath.  This  would  naturally 
suffffest  the  fact  that  other  bodies,  under  like  circum- 
stances,  fall  in  like  manner.  The  question  then  arose  in 
his  mind ;  wdiy  do  they  thus  fall  ?  The  answer  was,  very 
naturally,  because  there  is  a  certain  power  of  attraction 
in  the  earth,  which,  when  they  are  unsupported,  draws 
them  to  it.  Knowing  that  such  facts  are  of  general,  if 
not  universal  occurrence,  the  philosopher  was  led  to  the 
conclusion, — all  bodies  draw  each  other;  in  other  words, 
the  power  of  attraction  belongs  to  matter  universally. 
Further  observation  reveals  the  fact,  that  the  power  of 
attraction  varies  according  to"  the  size  of  the  bodies,  and 
their  distance  from  each  other ;  and  a  proper  investigation 
of  these  differences  in  attraction,  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  they  occur,  at  last  leads  to  the  discovery  of 
the  fixed  law  for  this  variation ;  namely,  bodies  attract 
each  other  directly  as  their  masses,  and  inversely  as  the 
square  of  their  distances; — a  proposition,  pronounced  by 
high  authority,  "  the  most  important  and  the  most  general 
truth  hitherto  discovered  by  the  industry  and  sagacity  of 
man."  In  all  this  we  have,  of  course,  supposed  the  labor 
of  years,  to  be  crowded  into  the  space  of  the  few  moments 
immediately  connected  with  the  observed  phenomenon. 

Suppose  now,  that,  before  the  philosopher  leaves  the 
spot,  a  boy  approaches,  seizes  the  fallen  apple,  and  tosses 
it  into  the  air.  As  it  falls,  he  catches  it,  and  again  tosses 
it  upward.  The  apple  is  thus  made  to  move  back  and 
forth  between  the  ground  and  the  tree.  The  force  which 
brings  it  toward  the  ground  is  the  physical  force,  just  dis- 
covered by  the  philosopher :  in  other  words,  the  apple  is 
made  to  fall  by  the  force  of  gravitation.  But  is  it  gravi- 
tation which  causes  it  to  ascend  ?  Certainly  not.  By 
what  force,  then,  is  it  impelled  in  its  ascent?  By  the 
muscular  force  of  the  bov's  arm?     Doubtless;  but  what 


36  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIPJST. 

cause  i7i  nature  put  the  muscles  of  his  arm  in  motion  ? 
Science  is  dumb  :  the  philosopher  is  at  a  loss.  Newton 
can  not  answer  the  question  any  better  than  the  boy 
who  is  tossing  the  apple.  The  latter  perhaps  will  say, 
"  I  made  my  arm  move ; "  the  former,  "  He  icilled  to 
move  his  arm,  and  it  moved." 

Here,  then,  was  a  cause  operating  in  nature,  of  which 
physical  science  can  give  no  account.  No  philosopher 
was  ever  silly  enough  to  reckon  the  vj'dl  among  physical 
forces.  The  power,  then,  that  impelled  the  apple  up- 
wards was  a  human  will, — a  spiritual  power, — a  power 
above  nature, — supernatural.  It  was  a  power  distinct 
from  gravitation,  and,  for  the  time  being,  transcend- 
ing and  counteracting  it.  But  did  it  suspend  or  violate 
the  law  of  gravitation  ?  No,  the  gravitating  force  oper- 
ated just  as  constantly  and  powerfully  on  the  apple,  during 
its  ascent  under  the  impelling  force  of  the  will,  as  it  did 
while  it  was  falling.  Thus,  it  appears  clear  that,  while 
the  laws  of  nature  are  fixed  and  inviolable,  they  are 
just  as  clearly  distinguished  by  a  certain  elastic  flexi- 
bility, in  obedience  to  which,  they  may,  for  the  time 
being,  yield  to  each  other  or  to  the  will  of  man,  without 
losing  their  own  energy,  or  suffering  even  a  momentary 
disturbance. 

The  application  of  all  this  is  plain.  If  the  laws  of  na- 
ture are  not  violated  by  the  intervention  of  the  human 
will,  in  the  production  of  phenomena  which  would  not 
otherwise  have  occurred,  how  can  it  be  shown,  that 
they  would  be  violated  by  the  intervention  of  a  super- 
hu7nan  v:idl  ?  The  argument  allows  us  to  suppose,  that 
as,  in  the  case  of  the  boy  tossing  the  apple,  the  human 
spirit  operated  on  matter  through  the  voluntary  force,  (of 
the  essentia]  nature  of  which  we  know  nothing,)  so  there 
may  be  other,  higher,  superhuman  spirits  equally  empow- 
ered to  act  upon  matter,  through  some  force  unknown 


LAWS    OF    NATURE   AS    RELATED    TO    MIRACLES.         37 

to  US,  or  perhaps  tliroiigli  some,  to  us,  unknown  phase 
or  development  of  the  same  voluntary  force. 

■Reverting  to  the  previous  illustration,  let  us  suppose 
that  the  boy's  hand  is  Avithdrawn  after  the  act  of  tossing 
the  apple,  and  that  some  invisible  agency  seizes  and  holds 
the  apple  suspended  in  the  air,  will  some  rationalist  tell 
us  what  law  of  nature  is  thereby  violated  ?  Certainly 
not  the  law  of  attraction.  That  remains  just  as  truly 
intact  as  when  the  apple  was  prevented  from  falling  by 
the  agency  of  the  boy.  Nor  was  it  the  law  of  causation. 
There  is  still  a  cause  adequate  to  the  effect ;  and  there 
is  no  proof  that  the  actual,  operating  force  is  not  as  truly 
spiritual  in  the  one  case  as  the  other.  Suppose,  now,  still 
further,  that  this  same  spiritual  agency  should,  instead  of 
the  apple,  raise  the  boy  himself,  and  keep  him  suspended 
ui  the  air ;  or  should  support  him  and  preserve  him  from 
sinking,  while  walking  on  the  water  ;  or  should  even  cause 
him  to  ascend  to  the  clouds,  and  disappear  from  human 
view; — suppose  any  or  all  of  these,  and  what  suspension 
of  physical  laws  would  be  necessitated  ?  Might  not  all  of 
them  remain  intact  and  in  full  play  ?  The  only  in- 
ference proper  would  be,  that  some  special  cause  above 
nature, — a  cause  perfectly  adequate,  though  mysterious 
and  wonderful,  had  intervened  and  produced  a  series  of 
phenomena,  which,  new  and  peculiar  as  they  might  appear 
to  us,  by  no  means  occasioned  any  derangement  of  the 
natural  order,  or  any  mfraction  of  the  laws  of  the  material 
world. 

Evidently,  then,  nature  is  not  an  iron  system  of  dead 
laws,  excluding  peremptorily  from  the  world  of  things 
all  spiritual  agency,  all  supernatural  causation.  It  is, 
rather,  a  system  whose  first  and  highest  law  is  the  capa- 
bility, in  all  material  existences,  of  being  reached  and 
modified  by  forces  of  a  supernatural  sphere.  Matter 
was,  in  fact,  created  for,  spirit.     It  was  intended  to  be 


38  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIPJST. 

moulded  and  governed  by  mind.  It  was  ordained  to  be 
the  instrument  and  servitor,  as  well  as  the  limitation  and 
vesture  of  thought.  The  monuments  of  human  thought 
and  purpose  with  which  the  earth  is  everywhere  studded, 
all  go  to  show,  that  the  material  Avorld  Avith  all  its  forces, 
some  of  them  profoundly  mysterious,  was  originall}^  ad- 
justed to  the  world  of  spiritual  intelligences,  so  that  they 
might  be  in  free  and  unimpeded  communication.  How 
spirit  acts  on  matter,  we  do  not  know,  perhaps  we  cannot 
know.  But,  that  our  natural  bodies  are  somehow  moved 
and  controlled  by  mind ;  that  the  material  elements  around 
us  are,  in  some  way,  reached  and  grasped  by  Avill,  this  we 
do  know.  Indeed,  nothing  is  clearer  than  the  fact,  that 
the  material  is  open  and  subject  to  the  authority  and  im- 
pulse of  the  spiritual.  No  laws  of  nature,  then,  are  viola- 
ted by  the  intervention  of  supernatural  agencies  ;  and  the 
objection  to  miracles,  that  they  involve  such  a  violation 
of  the  laws  of  nature,  falls  to  the  ground. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  GENERAL  PROBABILITY  OF   MIRACLES. 

EXISTENCE  OF  ITNOWN  PHYSICAL  FORCES  OF  A  MOST  SUBTLE  AND  I^XOM- 
PUEHENSIBLE  CHARACTER  —  RELATION  OF  A  BETTER  KNOWLEDGE  OF 
THESE  TO  THE  QUESTION  OF  SUPERNATURAL  INTERVENTION — NATURE, 
INTENDED  FROM  THE  BEGINNING  TO  BE  SUBJECT  TO  SUPERNATURAL 
POWERS — THE  EXISTENCE  OF  A  PERSONAL  GOD  ASSUMED  IN  THE  AR- 
GUMENT— THE  RELATIONS  OF  GOD  TO  HIS  INTELLIGENT  CREATURES  AS 
BEARING  ON  THE  SUBJECT — PRESUMPTION  IN  FAVOR  OF  A  REVELATION — 
CONSEQUENT  PRESUMPTION  IN  FAVOR  OF  MIRACLES — THE  GOSPEL  HIS- 
TORY, ACCEPTED  AS  CREDIBLE — POSITION  OF  THAT  HISTORY  WITH  RE- 
GARD TO  Christ's  miracles — the  question  as  to  "  presuppositions" 

RELATIVE  to  CHRIST  AND  HIS  HISTORY — THE  IMPRESSIONS  LEFT  BY 
CHRIST  ON  THE  MINDS  OF  HIS  COTEMPORARIES — SUBLIME  PROLOGUE 
TO    THE    FOURTH    GOSPEL. 

We  have  already  seen  that  miracles  involve  no  such 
violation  of  the  laws  of  nature,  as  renders  them  absurd  or 
impossible.  Without  going  into  a  detailed  and  exhaustive 
examination  of  the  question  of  their  probability,  there  are 
certain  general  considerations  of  a  more  popular  character, 
which  properly  claim  attention  here. 

Notwithstanding  the  boasts  of  some  scientific  men, 
nature  contains  oceans  of  living  forces  which  science  has 
not  yet  explored.  Some  of  these  forces  are  evidently 
nearer  the  mind  of  man,  and  are  more  pliant  to  his  will, 
than  any  which  have  hitherto  been  reduced  to  scientific 
description  and  interpretation.  There  are  facts  connected 
with  animal  magnetism,  clairvoyance,  somnambulism,  and 
the  so-called  spiritual  manifestations,  so  positively  indica- 
tive of  the  existence  of  such  forces,  that  they  are  as  much 
beyond  denial  as  they  are  beyond   explanation.     These 


40  THE    LIFE    OF    CHPJST. 

forces,  the  far-seeing  mind  of  Lord  Bacon  divined  and  ob- 
scurely described ;  and  their  reality,  the  most  profomid 
philosopher  of  our  age,  Sir  William  Hamilton,  felt  himself 
compelled  to  acknowledge,  notwithstanding  his  inability 
to  explain  their  nature  or  mode  of  operation. 

It  is  quite  probable,  that,  if  these  obscure  forces  of  nature 
were  as  well  understood  as  attraction, — as  well,  indeed,  as 
they  may  be  hereafter, — they  would  throw  important  light 
on  the  solution  of  the  problem, — how  mind  acts  upon  mat- 
ter. But  however  that  may  be,  until  men  of  science  have 
discovered  all  the  laws  of  nature,  it  is  the  height  of  folly 
and  arrogance  for  them  to  deny  the  production  of  material 
phenomena  by  spiritual  beings ;  in  other  words,  to  deny 
the  possible  or  probable  occurrence  of  miracles. 

The  reader  will  perhaps  ask,  whether  we  intend  to  assert 
that  the  ordinary  influence  of  mind  on  matter  is  miracu- 
lous ?  Certainly  not :  but  it  is  claimed,  that  the  produc- 
tion of  phenomena  in  nature,  by  a  power  above  nature, 
proves  that  nature  is  so  constituted  as  to  admit  supernatu- 
ral forces  into  its  sphere,  without  any  disturbance  of  its 
own  order.  Nay,  more,  the  thesis  may  be  defended, — that 
nature  must  admit  supernatural  forces  into  its  sphere,  or 
itself  fall  into  confusion  and  come  to  nothing.  It  will,  in 
time,  come  to  be  seen  and  acknowledged,  that  nature  was 
intended  from  the  beginning  to  be  the  subject  of  super- 
natural powers,  and  to  afford  a  theater  for  their  operation. 
The  world  originated  in  just  such  a  supernatural  interven- 
tion,— originated  in  that  grand  miracle,  creation  ;  and  it  has 
to  a  great  extent  been,  from  the  beginning,  modified  or 
rather  glorified  by  a  stupendous  succession  of  miracles, — 
miracles  which,  so  far  from  deranging  the  order  of  nature, 
have  rather  established  it.  Compared  with  these  examples 
of  supernatural  intervention,  the  miracles  narrated  in  the 
gospels  are  not  marked  by  even  the  shadow  of  improba- 
bility. 


PROBABILITY    OF    MIRACLES.  41 

The  wliolc  question  turns  on  the  single  considera- 
tions—whether there  is  or  is  not  any  will  above  nature, 
except  the  will  of  man,  able  to  produce  physical  phe- 
nomena. Is  there  a  God  f  If  there  is,  miracles  are  possi- 
ble and  probable.  This  is  a  question  which  we  do  not 
here  discuss.  The  existence  of  a  personal  God  is,  through- 
out this  work,  assumed.  The  refutation  of  atheism  and 
pantheism  is  left  to  those  who  have  the  leisure  to  pursue 
it.  What  is  here  written  is  for  those  who,  however  they 
may  have  been  perplexed  by  doubts  as  to  "  His  only  Son, 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,"  "  believe  in  God  the  Father  Al- 
mighty, Maker  of  heaven  and  earth."  They  believe,  con- 
sequently, in  an  infinite  self-conscious  Intelligence  who 
created  the  worlds,  and  governs  them  according  to  his  wise 
and  benevolent  purpose. 

Now  we  necessarily  attribute  to  such  a  Being, /ree  will. 
We  believe  in  His  omnipotence  ;  in  His  absolute  goodness. 
We  can  not  conceive  of  Him  as  limited  and  bound  by 
physical  laws  ;  and  we  can  not  doubt,  if  we  would,  that  He 
is  just  and  good.  As  a  personal  God,  He  stands  in  the 
closest  relations  to  all  created  persons.  He  is  their  Father; 
their  Moral  Governor ;  their  Judge.  The  world  of  mind, — 
of  rational  intelligences, — is,  in  His  estimation,  far  above 
the  world  of  matter.  The  latter,  indeed,  exists  only  for  the 
former ;  for  "  intelligence  stands  first  in  the  order  of  ex- 
istence," and  moral  laws  are  higher  than  physical  laws. 

This  brings  us  to  the  point,  that  the  probability  of  a 
miracle  depends  less  on  physical  than  on  moral  considera- 
tions. All  pronouncing  as  to  its  probability,  based  wholly 
upon  physical  considerations,  is  altogether  ex-parte  and 
insufficient.  A  miracle  is,  in  no  case,  wrought  for  the  ma- 
terial world,  but  for  the  soul  of  man, — for  his  spiritual 
good.  But  inasmuch  as  this  is  the  end  of  God's  moral 
government,  and  of  all  His  works,  there  can  be  no  pre- 
sumption against  a  miracle,  whenever  the  highest  good  of 


42  TUE    LIFE    OF    CnPJST. 

the  human  race  demands  it :  the  presumption,  on  the  con- 
trary, is  altogether  in  its  favor. 

Now,  that  man  needs  a  revelation,  may  be  argued  from 
his  religious  nature,  and  from  that  consciousness  of  his  sin 
and  ruin  which  has  been  attested  by  every  religion  since 
the  fall,  and  recognized  by  every  philosophy  ancient  and 
modern.  That  man  is  a  fallen  and  sinful  being,  is  not  a 
dogma  peculiar  to  Christianity;  it  is  a /«ci!  witnessed  by 
the  universal  moral  consciousness  of  the  race.  The  feel- 
ing of  spiritual  need  is  so  intense  and  so  wide-sj^read  among 
mankind,  that  it  may  well  be  called  the  dumb  prayer  of  hu- 
manity. Now,  accepting  the  existence  of  these  facts; — 
that  there  is  a  personal  God  ;  that  Ilis  highest  relations  are 
to  His  moral  subjects ;  that  man  has  lapsed  into  a  state  of  the 
deejDCst  sin  and  misery ;  and  that  everywhere  the  human 
soul  is  conscious  of  its  spiritual  need ; — accepting  all  this, 
we  cannot  but  believe  that  a  Father's  pitying  eye  is  look- 
ing down  on  our  human  struggles  and  sorrows ;  we  must 
feel,  when  we  read  that  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He 
gave  His  only  begotten  Son  "  for  it,  that  it  was  what  might 
have  been  expected ;  it  was  just  like  Him  to  do  it,  and  to 
reveal  the  glad  tidings  of  it  to  His  perishing  children.  In- 
deed, it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  other  great  fact  in  history  has 
ever  been  able  to  claim  so  strong  an  antecedent  probability 
in  its  behalf 

But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  a  revelation  could 
not  have  l)cen  made  except  in  a  miraculous  way.  We  do 
not  say,  it  could  not  have  been  sufficiently  attested  ;  that 
is  still  an  open  question.  What  we  do  aihnn  is,  that  mir- 
acles are  essential  parts  of  the  revelation  itself  Every 
presumption,  then,  in  favor  of  a  revelation  from  God,  is 
equally  and  alike  a  presumption  in  favor  of  miracles.  Un- 
less then  we  are  to  deny  a  revelation  altogether,  we  must 
admit  the  probaljility  of  uiiracles. 

Having  thus  endeavored,  (and  we  trust,  not  altogether 


PROBABILITY    OF    MIRACLES.  43 

without  success,)  to  remove  the  only  alleged  presumption 
against  the  credibility  of  the  gospel  history,  it  is  now 
competent  for  us  to  assume  its  entire  truthfulness.  In- 
deed, the  four  gospels  exhibit  every  mark  of  sincerity 
in  their  writers ;  they  are  characterized  by  an  artless  sim- 
plicity, an  earnest  candor,  and  a  high  moral  tone,  quite 
unrivalled  among  ancient  writings.  They  are  the  testi- 
mony of  eye-witnesses,  under  conditions  which  forbid  even 
the  suspicion  of  delusion  or  imposture. 

Beyond  this,  they  record  the  explicit  testimony  of  Jesus 
Himself,  to  the  reality  of  the  mighty  works  wdiicli  are 
ascribed  to  Him.  Those  who  deny  His  miracles,  make  Him 
either  a  senseless  madman  or  a  deliberate  impostor.  But 
that  '■^higher  criticism"  which  charges  intentional  decep- 
tion on  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  may  safely  be  left  to  be  dis- 
posed of  by  the  moral  sense  of  mankind. 

The  question  now  arises,  in  conclusion,  whether  we  are 
to  enter  on  our  work  of  portraying  the  life  of  our  Lord, 
without  any  "  presuppositions  "  as  to  His  person  and  char- 
acter. It  is  claimed  l^y  rationalistic  critics  that  this  is  the 
only  historic  method.  The  assertion  is  here  ventured, 
that  true  history  never  was  written  in  this  way,  and 
never  can  be.  The  assertion  is  certainly  and  eminently 
true  of  biography.  A  man,  for  example,  who  should  at- 
tempt to  compose  a  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  with  no  ideas 
of  the  man  derived  from  the  impression  he  made  on  his 
cotemporaries,  and  on  the  public  mind  in  general,  would 
have  no  proper  conception  of  the  significance  of  his  ma- 
terials. He  would,  of  necessity,  enter  upon  his  course  of 
investigation  with  an  exceedingly  vague  and  unreliable 
impression  as  to  the  results  which  he  was  to  reach ;  and 
his  progress  in  that  course  would,  as  a  natural  consequence, 
be  more  or  less  fluctuatino;  and  unsatisfactory.  The  truth 
is,  he  must  find  the  key  to  the  man's  life  and  character, 
in  the  impressions  which  he  left  on  the  minds  of  those 


44  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

who  knew  him  well.  This  key  must  open,  to  him  that 
general  conception  of  the  man's  life  and  character,  which 
is  his  best  guide  and  stimulus  in  the  work  of  investiga- 
tion. The  process  of  investigation  may  reveal  new  facts 
and  correct  erroneous  notions;  but  it  will  not  essentially 
change  the  original  conception. 

Now,  we  find  that  Jesus  left  on  the  minds  of  his  cotem- 
poraries  the  impression  that  He  was,  in  a  high  and  pecu- 
liar sense,  the  Son  of  God.  "  This  view  of  Christ's  person 
arose  from  the  direct  impression  which  His  appearance 
among  men  made  upon  eye-witnesses,  and,  through  them, 
upon  the  whole  human  race.  This  image  of  Christ,  which 
has  always  propagated  itself  in  the  consciousness  of  the 
Christian  Church,  originated  in,  and  ever  points  back  to, 
the  revelation  of  Christ  himself,  without  which,  indeed,  it 
could  never  have  arisen.  As  man's  limited  intellect  could 
never,  without  the  aid  of  revelation,  have  originated  the 
idea  of  God ;  so  the  image  of  Christ  could  never  have 
sprung  from  the  consciousness  of  sinful  humanity,  but 
must  be  regarded  as  the  reflection  of  the  actual  life  of 
such  a  Christ.  It  is  Christ's  self-revelation,  made  through 
all  generations,  in  the  fragments  of  His  history  that  re- 
main, and  in  the  workings  of  His  spirit,  which  inspires 
these  fragments,  and  enables  us  to  recognize  in  them  one 
complete  whole.'* 

In  this  view,  there  is  nothing  more  sublime  than  the 
prologue  to  the  fourth  gospel,  with  which  we  close  this 
chapter,  and  which  may  well  stand  as  the  inspired  motto 
of  this  Life  of  our  Lord  and  Savior,  Jesus  Christ,  on  Earth  : 

"/??  the  begin^iing  was  the  Word,' and  the  Word  luas 
with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  The  same  zuas  in  the 
beginning  with  God.    All  things  were  made  by  Him;  and, 

*Neander's  Life  of  Christ,  page  4. 


PROBABILITY    OF    MIRACLES.  45 

without  Him,  zvas  not  anything  made  that  was  made.  In 
Him  was  life;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  me7i. 

"  There  was  a  man  sent  f'om,  God,  whose  name  was 
yohn.  The  same  came  for  a  witness  to  bear  zuitncss  of 
the  Light ;  that  all  men,  through  hint,  might  believe.  He 
was  not  that  Light,  but  was  sent  to  bear  witness  of  that 
Light. 

"  That  was  the  true  Light  which  lighteth  every  one  that 
Cometh  into  the  zvorld.  He  zvas  in  the  world,  and  the 
world  was  7nadc  by  Him,  and  the  world  knew  Him  7tot. 
He  came  unto  His  oiun,  and  His  own  received  Him  not. 
But  as  inany  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave  He  power  to 
become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  His 
name;  which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of 
the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God. 

'' And  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  divelt  among  us  ; 
and  we  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten 
of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truths 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  DELAY  IN  THE  COMING  OF  OUR  LORD. 

THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  CHRIST'S  BIRTH — HIS  COMING  LONG  DELAYED  IN  THE 
world's  HISTORY — QUESTION,  WHY  THIS  WAS  NATURALLY  RAISED — 
ORDERED  BY  DIVINE  WISDOM  —  THE  DELAY  REQUISITE  TO  A  JUST  PREP- 
ARATION—  HISTORY  HAS  AN  ORGANIC  UNITY — CHRIST  MUST  COME  INTO 
WORLD-HISTORY,  IN  ACCORDANCE  WITH  ITS  LAWS, — AT  AN  EARLIER 
AGE,  IHE  WORLD  WOULD  NOT  HAVE  BEEN  MORALLY  PREPARED  FOR 
THE  ADVENT  OF  JESUS — SUCH  A  MORAL  PREPARATION,  ONLY  REACHED 
THROUGH  AGES  OF  MORAL  DISCIPLINE — THE  NATIONS  GIVEN  TO  IDOLA- 
TRY— IDOLATROUS  SYSTEMS  MUST  DECAY  AND  LOSE  THEIR  HOLD  ON 
MANKIND  —  DELAY  NECESSARY  TO  COMPLETE  THE  CYCLE  OF  PROPHECY — 
NECESSARY  TO  THE  PROPER  CIVIL  CONDITION  OF  THE  WORLD — THE 
DELAY   A    SIMPLE   CHRONOLOGICAL   NECESSITY. 

AccoRDixG  to  the  received  chronology,  our  Savior  was 
born  in  the  year  4004,  from  the  creation.  Another  chro- 
nology, widely  approved  by  scholars,  assigns  a  much  longer 
period  to  the  history  of  the  world  before  Christ. 

Whichever  we  choose  to  accept,  our  Lord  delayed  His 
coming  through  long  and  Aveary  ages.  In  the  promise 
made  to  Eve,  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise 
the  serpent's  head,  there  was  no  intimation  of  any  long 
delay ;  and  the  early  expectation  seems  to  have  been,  that 
the  promise  would  be  speedily  fulfilled.  Eve's  language 
in  naming  Cain,  would  indicate  it  as  her  belief  that  she 
had  already  brought  forth  the  Divine  Deliverer.  The  ex- 
pectation, however,  was  a  mistaken  one :  the  promised 
Deliverer  had  not  yet  come.  Age  after  age  passed  away, 
generation  followed  generation  to  the  tomb ;  the  Avorld 
waxed  more  and  more  corrupt;  millions  jierished  in  sin 
and  misery ;  yet  the  night  still  shrouded  the  nations ;  no 
'^  Day-Star  from  on  high  "  appeared. 


DELAY    OF    CHRIST'S    COMING.  47 

But  why  this  long  delay  ?  Why  did  not  Christ  ap- 
pear in  the  world  nearer  the  opening  of  its  history?  The 
question  forces  itself  upon  the  thoughtlul  mind  ;  and,  on 
the  whole,  it  is  neither  idle  nor  unlawful.  It  is  quite 
analogous  to  the  question ;  Why  was  Jesus  born  in  Pales- 
tine, among  the  Jews,  rather  than  in  Greece,  or  Eome, 
or  India? — a  problem  properly  regarded  as  both  legiti- 
mate and  important. 

Now  we  must  believe  that  the  time  of  Christ's  advent 
was  determined  by  the  infallible  purpose  of  Him  who  has 
the  times  and  seasons  in  His  own  power,  and  that  its  long 
delay  was  ordained  in  infinite  wisdom.  Certainly,  the 
wisdom  of  God  may  be  as  strikingly  displayed  in  the 
selection  of  Christ's  hirth-time,  as  of  Christ's  birth-place. 
That  wisdom  has  not  left  us  without  some  indications  of 
the  reasons  for  the  time  chosen. 

The  general  principle  which  underlies  the  answer  to  the 
main  question  is  suggested  by  the  language  of  the  great 
Apostle  : — "  When  the  fulness  of  the  time  was  come,  God 
sent  forth  His  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law, 
that  He  might  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that 
we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  Sons."*  An  earlier 
advent  of  the  Messiah  would  have  been,  so  to  speak,  un- 
timely. At  no  earlier  period,  could  the  conditions  requi- 
site to  the  success  of  His  mission  have  been  prepared. 

There  is  in  human  history  an  organic  coherence  and  /  ,;  , 
development.     Events,  including  those  called  miraculous,     ; 
do  not  take  place  without  a  certain  connection  and  fixed    '^  Wv^/^,/, 
order  of  evolution.     This  order  is  from  the  simple  to  the/ 
complex ;  from  the  less  to  the  greater ;  from  lower  forms  ^ 
of  existence  to  those  higher ;   from  cj'cles  of  action  and 
incident  more  restricted  in  their  character  and  relations, 
to  those  more  vast  and  comprehensive.     It  was  so  in  the 

*  Galatians  iv.  4,  5. 


48  THE    LIP^E    OF    CHRIST. 

creation,  from  the  origination  of  dead  matter  to  the  ap- 
pearance of  man ;  it  is  so  with  the  history  of  man,  from 
his  appearance  on  the  newly-created  earth  down  to  the 
end  of  time.  Hmnan  progress  in  w^orld-history  goes  on 
then  inevitably  under  great  laws,  by  which  every  succes- 
sive stage  is  the  result. of  all  that  have  gone  before,  and 
can  in  no  wise  either  anticipate  its  time  or  change  its 
place.  Science  is,  therefore,  not  at  Itiult  when  it  seeks  to 
ascertain  the  laws  of  man's  development  in  the  succession 
of  human  generations ;  it  only  errs  when  it  rests  in  mere 
physical  laws,  and  fails  to  recognize,  or  arrogantly  denies, 
free  mind  as  a  moving  force  in  history. 

Now  Christ  was  to  enter  into  world-history  in  accord- 
ance with  its  divinely  constituted  laws,  and  to  take  place 
in  it  as  a  legitimate  agency  in  the  new  evolution :  He 
was  to  come  into  real  historic  relation  to  the  human 
family;  to  penetrate  as  a  regenerating  force  the  great 
heart  of  mankind  ;  to  mould  anew,  working  from  within 
outw^ards,  the  entire  race ;  and  at  length  to  consummate 
His  work  in  the  renovation  of  Nature  itself, — in  the  pal- 
ingenesis for  which  prophetic  souls  have  longed  since  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  All  things  were  to  be  new-born 
in  Him ;  from  Him,  history  was  to  take  a  new  departure ; 
and  man  fallen  was  to  become,  in  Him,  man  regenerate, — 
the  child  of  God,  the  heir  of  glory  and  immortality.  But 
thus  He  could  not  come — into  the  world's  history  He  could 
not  thus  enter,  till  through  successive  growths  and  evolu- 
tions that  w^orld-history  had  been  brought  to  the  proper 
shape  and  ripeness  for  His  manifestation  and  introduction 
into  it.'^  All  this  w^as,  however,  the  work  of  ages. 

We  often  say  of  men  like  Roger  Bacon  and  Galileo, 
that  they  were  born  too  soon ;  that  they  belonged  to  a 
later  age ;  that  their  genius  and  their  lives  were  thrown 
away  on  cotemporaries  incapable  of  appreciating  them. 
So,  too,  if  Jesus  had  appeared  on  the  earth  in  an  earlier 


DELAY  OF  Christ's  coming.  49 

age,  He  would  have  been  born  too  soon  ;  there  would  have 
been  such  a  lack  of  preparation  on  the  part  of  man,  that 
His  person  and  His  mission  would  have  been  utterly  mis- 
understood and  universally  rejected  :  the  unspeakable  gift 
of  God  would  have  been  conferred  upon  the  world  in  vain. 

There  must  have  been  in  the  most  ancient  times,  a  dim 
consciousness  of  evil, — a  vague  feeling  that  all  was  not 
richt  in  the  relations  between  man  and  God.  But  in  the 
childhood  of  the  race,  appetite  and  passion,  imagination 
and  superstitious  fear,  predominated  over  reason  and  re- 
flection, and  hence  either  blunted  or  perverted  the  moral 
sense.  Even  the  cultivated  nations  of  antiquity  were 
strangely  blind  to  moral  distinctions.  Almost  the  highest 
crimes  known  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  were  of- 
fences against  customs  and  prejudices  purely  superstitious 
and  conventional,  while  they  regarded  with  indifference, 
not  unfrequently  with  complacency,  the  most  abominable 
violations  of  the  fundamental  maxims  of  morality.  Even 
in  the  line  of  the  Hebrew  patriarchs,  to  whom  special 
revelations  were  at  intervals  vouchsafed,  we  see  evidences 
of  the  most  deplorable  moral  obtuseness.  Rebekah,  Jacob 
and  his  twelve  sons,  though  doubtless  far  superior  to  their 
cotemporaries,  committed  heinous  sins  without  any  ap- 
parent compunction. 

Now  a  moral  sense  so  obtuse  was  by  no  means  fitted  to 
apprehend  the  teachings  of  Jesus  as  to  either  sin,  or  sal- 
vation from  sin.  But,  as  it  was  the  great  design  of  Christ's 
coming  to  take  away  the  sin  of  the  world  by  purchasing 
remission,  and  by  providing  those  sanctifying  agencies  by 
wliich  alone  the  hearts  of  men  can  be  renewed  and  puri- 
fied, His  mission  would  have  failed  of  its  effect,  had  He 
appeared  before  the  moral  consciousness  of  mankind  had 
become  cognizant  of  sin,  and  of  the  need  of  redemption. 
Yet,  this  could  only  be  effected  through  a  discipline  under 
law  carried  on  for  ages ;  for  the  apostle  Paul  has  taught 


50  THE    LIFE    OF    CDKIST. 

US,  that  "  by  the  law  is  the  knowledge  of  sin,"  *  and  that 
therefore  the  law  is  "  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to 
Christ."  Hence,  notwithstanding  their  long-continued 
supernatural  training,  we  find  that  even  among  the  en- 
Hghtened  Jews,  it  was  not  until  late  in  their  history  that 
such  acute  religious  sensibility  and  profound  spiritual  con- 
cern had  been  awakened,  as  found  expression  in  the  outcry 
of  Paul ;  "  Oh  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who  shall  deliver 
me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? "  f 

Still  further,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  soon  after 
the  flood,  idolatrous  religions  sprang  up  which  ultimately 
extended  over  the  peopled  earth,  and  attained  a  power  as 
prodigious  as  their  influence  was  delusive.  The  faith  of 
the  nations  in  their  folse  gods  was  for  many  ages  steadfast 
and  undoubted ;  all  their  modes  of  thought  and  feeling  were 
so  moulded  and  fixed  by  idolatry,  that  they  were  in  no  con- 
dition to  accept  a  religion,  which  held  to  the  spiritual 
worship  of  one  living  and  true  God ;  which  taught  the 
entire  sinfulness  of  the  creature,  the  utter  worthlessness 
of  all  creature  works  or  oflerings,  and  the  need  of  an 
atoning  sacrifice  and  Savior. 

Now,  the  world  could  not  be  in  any  state  of  preparation 
for  Christianity,  before  those  pagan  religions  had  run 
their  cycle.  Brought  to  the  actual  test  of  long  expe- 
rience, they  must  be  "  weighed  in  the  balance  and  found 
wanting."  Their  vanity,  absurdity,  and  pollution  must 
become  manifest  to  the  world.  Their  oracles  must  be 
dumb ;  their  priests  must  lose  faith  in  the  gods,  and 
respect  for  their  rites ;  thoughtful  men  must  find  them- 
selves weltering  in  a  sea  of  doubt  and  despair ; — in  short, 
it  must  become  clear  that  idolatry  could  do  nothing  for  a 
lapsed  and  dying  world.  But  no  such  results  could  be 
looked  for  except  through  ages  of  sad  and  fruitless  and 
despairing  experience. 

*  Romans  iii.  20.  f  Romans  vii.  24. 


DELAY    OF    CHRIST'S    COMING.  61 

Again,  the  earlier  coming  of  Christ  would  have  antici- 
pated the  full  completion  of  the  cycle  of  prophecy.  Aside 
from  the  fact  that  the  prophecies  constituted  an  important 
part  of  our  Lord's  credentials,  we  must  not  lose  sight  of 
the  indispensable  need  of  the  prophecies  as  preparatory 
to  a  proper  reception  of  Jesus.  It  was  not  only  necessary 
that  the  great  hope  of  a  coming  Messiah  should  be  kin- 
dled and  kept  burning  in  the  Jewish  mind ;  but  it  was 
also  requisite  that  His  character  and  mission  should  be 
so  clearly  delineated  and  so  well  understood  beforehand, 
that  at  least  the  enlightened  and  devout  should  be  able 
to  sing  at  His  appearing ;  "  Lo,  this  is  our  God ;  we  have 
waited  for  Him,  and  He  will  save  us :  this  is  the  Lord ; 
we  have  waited  for  Him,  we  will  be  glad  and  rejoice  m 
His  salvation."  *  Now  the  utterances  of  no  single  prophet, 
of  no  single  age,  w^ould  have  served  to  keep  before  the 
Plebrew  mind  this  distinct  image  of  Him  who  was  to 
come  :  the  mighty  argument  must  be  transmitted  through 
many  generations,  from  Adam  down  to  John  the  Baptist 
Not  until  that  point  had  been  reached, — and  reachea 
through  this  precise  process, — could  the  fulness  of  the 
time  come  for  the  advent  of  the  Savior. 

Still  further,  the  free  proclamation  and  rapid  spread  of 
the  Gospel  required  a  civil  order  and  a  civilized  culture, 
which  did  not  exist  at  any  previous  period,  and  which 
are  the  fruit  of  long-continued  growth  and  development. 
A  language  must  be  providentially  prepared  as  a  fit 
vehicle  for  the  communication  of  the  profound  truths  of 
the  Gospel, — a  language-  adapted  alike  to  the  compre- 
hension of  the  simple  and  the  taste  of  the  learned,  and 
generally  current  throughout  the  civilized  world.  Through 
such  a  language  only,  could  the  preacher  gain  access  to 
minds  of  the  highest  intelligence  and  culture,  and  preach 

*  Isaiah  xxv.  9. 


52  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

the  Gospel  to  every  creature.  Many  other  conditions  were 
also  necessary,  such  as,  general  peace  and  security  among 
the  nations ;  "svell-established  and  widely  extended  civil  or- 
ganization and  order;  general  religious  toleration;  a  wide 
diffusion  of  Judaism  and  Jewish  influence ;  and  vast  and 
varied  facilities  for  intercourse  throughout  the  civilized 
world.  Conditions  like  these,  assuredly-,  could  not  be 
reached  except  through  ages  of  national  discipline  and 
development;  and  did  not  exist  until  the  days  of  the 
Caesars. 

Finally,  the  late  coming  of  Christ  was  a  simple  chrono- 
logical necessity.  Christ's  appearance  and  abode  on  earth 
was  necessarily  restricted  in  respect  to  place  and  time. 
Few  of  earth's  myriads  could,  in  any  case,  behold  Him : 
by  the  majority.  He  must  be  received  by  faith.  Hence,  by 
divine  wisdom.  He  was  placed  midmost  in  the  world's 
history.  And  in  that  central  position,  He  towers,  like 
some  vast  mountain,  to  heaven ;  the  farther  slope  stretch- 
ing backward  toward  the  creation ;  the  hither  slope,  toward 
the  approaching  consummation  of  all  things :  the  ages 
before  look  to  Him  with  prophetic  gaze ;  the  ages  since, 
behold  Him  by  historic  faith; — by  both  He  is  seen  in 
common,  as  "  the  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory,"  and 
the  unspeakable  gift  of  God  to  the  race. 


CHAPTER    V. 

POSTUEE  OF  THE  HEATHEN  NATIONS,  AS  PREPARATORY 
TO   CHRIST'S   COMING. 

Christ's  coming,  not  the  result  of  any  ordinary  development — 

THE  preparation  FOR  HIS  COMING,  INDICATIVE  OF  SOME  SUPERNATU- 
RAL evolution — ANCIENT  CIVILIZATIONS  AND  RELIGIONS,  PRODUCTIVE 
OP  NO  TRUE  MORAL  PROGRESS — ASIATIC  DEVELOPMENT  A  FAILURE — 
ITS  IDEAS,  ONLY  AN  INCIDENTAL  INFLUENCE  ON  JEWISH  MIND — THE 
MESSIANIC  IDEAS  ORIGINALLY  JEWISH  AND  CARRIED  BY  THEM  TO  THE 
EAST — ESPECIAL  RESULTS  FROM  GRECIAN  DEVELOPMENT — THE  GREEK, 
THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  THEN  CIVILIZED  WORLD — RESULTS  FROM  ROMAN 
DEVELOPMENT — CIVIL  ORDER  AND  ORGANIZATION,  FROM  ROME — USE- 
LESSNESS  OF  GREEK  AND  KOMAN  RELIGION  TO  CHRISTIANITY — PLINY'8 
DESPAIR. 

Looking  back  over  the  ages  which  had  elapsed  previous 
to  the  commencement  of  our  own  era,  we  see  all  things 
pointing  to  Christ;  but  we  discover  no  signs  of  any  latent 
virtue  in  human  nature  capable  of  producing  Him.  In- 
deed, while  we  know  that  "He  was  made  according  to 
the  flesh,"  of  the  seed  of  David,  of  Abraham,  and  of 
Adam,  we  feel  that  no  human  genealogy  can  "declare 
His  generation." 

When  we  glance  at  the  mighty  preparation  for  the 
coming  of  our  Lord, — a  preparation  that  involved  the 
distribution,  governance,  and  education  of  nations,  we 
must  remember  that  that  preparation  was  no  mere  process 
of  natural  development  of  which  He  was  the  "  bright,  con- 
summate flower."  It  was,  instead,  the  express  supernatural 
preparation  of  the  world  for  the  reception  of  Jesus  as  the 
unspeakable  gift  of  the  Father.     All  the  efforts  of  seep- 


54  TDE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

tical  writers  to  show  the  contrary, — to  reduce  Christ  to 
the  level  of  an  ordinary  historic  appearance  in  the  normal 
course  of  human  development,  have  utterly  failed.  All 
history  gives  the  lie  to  their  theory.  Jesus  was  so  plainly 
exceptional  in  the  history  of  our  race,  that  the  deepest 
thinkers  have  steadily  refused,  for  eighteen  hundred  3- ears, 
to  class  Him  with  mankind  as  a  mere  man.  The  "  Son  of 
man"  he  truly  was;  but  He  was  also  the  "Son  of  God." 

This  great  truth  is  beautifully  set  forth  by  Neander: 
"  The  human  life  of  Christ  took  its  appointed  place  in  the 
course  of  historical  events ; — nay,  all  history  was  arranged 
w^ith  reference  to  its  importance :  jet,  it  entered  into  his- 
tory, not  as  a  part  of  its  offspring,  but  as  a  higher  element. 
Whatever  has  its  origin  in  the  natural  course  of  humanity 
must  bear  the  stamp  of  humanity, — must  share  in  the  sin- 
fulness which  stains  it,  and  take  part  in  the  strifes  which 
distract  it."* 

Turning  now  our  attention  to  the  world  into  which  He 
was  about  to  come,  we  find  that  its  history  for  forty  cen- 
turies lay  among  the  Asiatics,  the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks, 
the  Romans,  and  the  Jews.  Mighty  civilizations  were 
early  developed  on  the  plains  of  Assyria,  and  in  the  valley 
of  the  Nile.  But  they  were  civilizations  without  God, 
without  even  morality ;  and  the  religions  which  gave  them 
a  certain  infernal  life  and  energy,  had  their  roots  in  an 
amazing  and  loathsome  sensuality,  which  opened  no  "pene- 
trating vistas  of  a  divine  world."!  They  came  to  nothing, 
■v\'ithout  contributing  any  important  element  to  the  reli- 
gious progress  of  mankind.  No  grand  moral  idea  could 
originate  among  races  debased  by  despotism  and  bestial 
idolatry. 

The  providential  discipline  and  development  of  Asia  in 
particular,  (and  Egypt  is  historically  Asiatic,)  lay  in  ever- 

*Neandcr's  "Life  of  Christ,"  p.  13.     f  Kenan's  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  p.  52. 


POSTURE    OF    THE    HEATHEN    NATIONS.  55 

lasting  failure  and  disappointment.  Her  empires  rose  and 
fell  like  ocean  waves,  leaving  no  trace  of  their  existence. 
Her  sages,  baffled  and  repelled  by  the  world  without,  where 
perpetual  change  with  no  progress  seemed  to  justify  the 
sentiment,  "  Vanity  of  vanities,  all  is  vanity,"  gave  them- 
selves up  to  melancholy  contemplation,  to  visions  of  the 
unearthly,  to  mystic  dreams  of  a  future  life,  and  to  the 
shadowing  forth  in  symbols  both  colossal  and  monstrous, 
of  vague  and  wild  pantheistic  imaginings. 

Evidently,  a  civilization  and  culture  so  barren  and 
abortive,  could  contribute  nothing  to  the  moral  and  re- 
ligious advancement  of  the  race.  Possibly,  some  inci- 
dental influence  may  have  been  exerted  upon  the  Jewish 
mind.  The  religious  imagination  thus  formed  and  fos- 
tered, may  have  supplied  the  imagery  which  pervades  the 
recorded  visions  of  Daniel,  Ezekiel,  and  the  later  prophets. 
It  may  even  have  created  those  modes  of  thought  which 
rendered  some  of  the  discourses  of  our  Lord,  and  the 
Apocalypse  of  John,  intelligible  and  attractive  to  the  ori- 
ental mind;  but  it  contributed  no  ideas  or  dogmas  to 
Christianity:  the  whole  was  ethically  and  thet)logically 
useless. 

TUiere  are  those  who,  denying  the  possibility  of  super- 
natural intervention,  and,  for  that  reason  alone,  ascribing 
the  prophecies  of  Daniel  to  some  unknown  writer  in  the 
time  of  the  Maccabees,  assert  that  the  Jews,  and  Jesus 
with  them,  borrowed  their  ideas  of  the  future  life  and 
the  Messiah's  kingdom,  from  the  degraded  Asiatic  nations. 
Such  an  assertion  is  only  an  intrepid  begging  of  the  ques- 
tion. In  the  acknowledged  absence  of  historical  proof,  it 
seems  far  more  probable  that  the  Asiatics  profited  by  the 
teachings  of  the  Jews  than  that  the  Jews  borrowed  the 
leadins;  articles  of  their  relio-ion  from  the  Asiatics.  The 
truth  is,  the  Messianic  ideas  were  original  with  the  Jewish 
race;  and  those  ideas  they  carried  with  them  into  their 


56  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

eastern  captivity;  for  they  had,  at  that  time,  the  Psalms 
of  David,  and.  the  Prophecy  of  Isaiah. 

Glancing  now  at  the  younger  but  greater  nations  of  the 
West,  we  clearly  trace  in  their  history  a  progressive  prep- 
aration for  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  was  the  mission  of 
Greece  to  develop  and  train  the  natural  man;  to  cultivate 
the  reason  and  the  taste ;  to  create  science  and  art ;  to  give 
to  the  world  metaphysics,  logic,  rhetoric,  and  a  language, 
so  copious  and.  flexible,  and  yet  so  clear  and  precise,  that 
it  was  fitted  to  be  the  vehicle  for  the  transmission  to  all 
lands  and  all  ages,  of  the  divine  thoughts  of  Ilim  Avho 
spake  as  never  man  spake. 

As  a  divinely  prepared  mould,  into  which  the  gospel 
was  to  be  cast  when  it  should  come  fresh  and  glowing 
from  the  heart  of  God,  it  was  providentially  ordered  that 
the  Greek  should  be  the  language  of  the  civilized  world, 
at  the  time  of  the  Savior's  advent.  The  palmy  days  of 
Grecian  civilization  had  already  passed  away.  For  gener- 
ations, no  great  philosopher,  no  mighty  orator,  no  divine 
poet  had  spoken  or  sung  in  the  peerless  language  of  Plato, 
Demosthenes,  and  Homer.  But  Greek  grammarians,  rhet- 
oricians, orators  and  artists  were  scattered  throughout  the 
world,  and  their  language  was  the  dialect,  not  only  of  ,the 
learned,  but  also  of  the  commercial  classes,  and  that  even 
in  Palestine.  It  is  even  maintained  by  good  scholars 
that  Jesus  himself  spoke  Greek.  However  this  may  be, 
this  wide  diffusion  of  Greek  culture  and  the  Grecian 
tongue  was  eminentl}^  fivorable  to  the  rapid  spread  of 
the  gospel.  And  it  is  especially  to  be  noted  as  tending 
to  further  that  great  result,  that  the  Greeks  themselves 
were  growing  weary  of  their  own  endless  disputes  and 
speculations.  The  Grecian  intellect  was  at  length  satiated 
with  mere  aesthetic  fancies  and  metaphysical  subtleties, 
and  was  bc(z;innina;  to  liumxer  for  Tr.UTii. 

The  Romans,  endowed  with  a  genius  as  yet  unrivalled 


POSTURE    OF    THE    UEATHEN   NATIONS.  57 

for  civil  organization,  legislation,  and  government,  were 
also  embraced  in  the  grand  providential  scheme  of  prepa- 
ration for  Christ's  kingdom.  The  very  existence  of  an 
empire  stretching  from  the  EiqDhrates  to  the  German 
Ocean,  and  from  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine  to  the  cata- 
racts of  the  Nile,  the  African  deserts,  and  Mount  Atlas ; — 
an  empire  tolerating  all  religions  compatible  with  civil 
order;  bound  together  by  one  prevailing  principle  of 
conquest  and  organization,  and  everywhere  traversed  by 
great  military  roads,  safe  and  practicable  for  the  soldiers 
of  the  cross  as  well  as  for  the  iron-clad  legionaries — such 
an  empire  was  itself  an  element  so  favorable  to  the  rapid 
diffusion  of  the  gospel,  that  we  can  not  but  ascribe  its  exist- 
ence to  the  wise  counsel  and  special  providence  of  God. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen,  that,  while  Christianity  received 
its  grand  spiritual  ideas, — all  that  pertained  to  its  religious 
spirit  and  power, — from  the  Jewish  intellect;  and  while 
to  Greek  culture  was  intrusted  the  task  of  preparing 
a  fitting  mould  for  the  truth  proclaimed  by  Christ;  a 
work  of  no  less  importance  was  committed  to  the  Roman 
mind.  That  she  might  fulfill  her  great  mission  in  the 
world,  Christianity  had  need,  not  only  of  just  ideas  and 
fitting  language,  but  also  of  organic  unity  and  strength. 
Hence,  under  the  providence  of  God,  it  devolved  upon 
Roman  genius  to  settle  the  external  order  and  secure  the 
corporate  existence  of  the  church. 

But  neither  among  the  Greeks  nor  the  Romans,  any 
more  than  among  the  Asiatics,  were  there  any  germs  of 
spiritual  truth,  which  were  deemed  worthy  of  being  trans- 
planted into  the  gospel  of  Christ.  At  the  time  of  our 
Lord's  advent,  their  religious  and  moral  condition  was 
deplorable  in  the  extreme.  The  fearful  picture  drawn  a 
few  years  later,  by  the  Apostle  Paul,  was  a  portrait  from 
actual  life.  Added  to  a  sensuality  more  vile  and  abom- 
inable than  it  is  lawful  to  describe,  society  was  frozen  into 


58  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

despair  by  atheistic  fatalism.  Among  educated  Romans 
of  that  period,  the  prevailing  tone  of  feeling  touching 
everything  spiritual  and  divine,  was  one  of  gloomy  scepti- 
cism. Their  culture  had  far  outgrown  the  popular  religion. 
No  man  of  sense  pretended  to  believe  in  the  gross  my- 
thology which  still  served  to  amuse  and  enslave  the  vulgar. 
The  best  minds  of  the  time  had  broken  loose  from  the  old 
moorings  of  superstition,  and  were  afloat  on  a  fathomless 
sea  of  doubt. 

Of  the  truth  of  this,  the  more  thoughtful  productions  of 
Roman  writers  afford  abundant  proof  One  citation  will 
suihce  for  our  present  purpose.  No  more  melancholy 
words  were  ever  written,  than  these  of  the  elder  Pliny : 
"All  religion  is  the  offspring  of  necessity,  weakness,  and 
fear.  What  God  is, — if,  indeed.  He  be  anything  distinct 
from  the  world, — it  is  beyond  the  compass  of  man's  un- 
derstanding to  know.  But  it  is  a  foolish  delusion  which 
has  sprung  from  human  weakness,  and  human  pride,  to 
imagine  that  such  an  infinite  spirit  would  concern  him- 
self with  the  petty  affairs  of  men.  It  is  difficult  to  say, 
whether  it  might  not  be  better  to  be  wholly  without 
religion,  than  to  have  one  of  this  kind,  which  is  a  reproach 
to  its  object.  The  vanity  of  man,  and  his  insatiable  long- 
ing after  existence,  have  led  him  to  dream  of  a  life  after 
death.  A  being  full  of  contradictions,  he  is  the  most 
wretched  of  creatures ;  since  the  other  creatures  have  no 
wants  transcending  the  bounds  of  their  nature.  Man  is 
full  of  desires  and  wants  that  reach  to  infinity,  and  can 
never  be  satisfied.  His  nature  is  a  lie,  uniting  the  greatest 
poverty  with  the  greatest  pride.  Among  these  so  great 
evils,  the  best  thing  which  God  has  bestowed  upon  man, 
is  the  power  to  take  his  own  life."*  The  closing  portions 
of  this  passage  reveal  the  secret  of  that  terrible  passion 


*Neander,  Church  History,  Intro. 


POSTURE    OF    TUE    BEATHEN    NATIONS.  59 

for  suicide,  which  was  a  marked  feature  of  Roman  life 
during  that  period.  The  best  men  of  the  time  had  come 
to  feel  that  there  was  so  little  left  in  the  world  of  virtue 
and  nobleness,  so  little  ground  for  either  fliitli  or  hope,  that 
it  was  scarcely  worth  while  to  live.  The  world  was,  in 
fact,  sick  unto  death,  and  even  its  prayer  for  relief  was 
only  the  inarticulate  groaning,  or  the  frenzied  shriek  of 
despair.  , 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

PREPARATION  FOR   CUPJST'S   C03IING. 

EARLY  DEGENERACY  OF  MANKIND,  AND  DIVINE  EFFORTS  TO  PURIFY  THE 
RACE — INSTITUTION  OF  THE  MESSIANIC  RACE  AND  LINEAGE — SPECIAL 
PREPARATION  FOR  THE  MESSIAH  AMONG  THE  JEWS — GENERAL  CHAR- 
ACTER   AND    ADAPTATION    OF    THE    DISCIPLINE    OF   THE  HEBREW  RACE 

A  MONOTHEISTIC  FAITH  TO  BE  ESPECIALLY  TAUGHT — ESPECIAL  MEANS 
EMPLOYED  TO  ROOT  IT  IN  THE  JEWISH  MIND — CONSISTENCY  OF  PRO- 
PHETIC REVELATION  :  NEANDER — THE  WORLD'S  GENERAL  EXPECTATION 
OF  SOME  COMING  BENEFACTOR  —  SPECIAL  ANTICIPATION  AMONG  THE 
HEBREWS — GENERAL  PEACE  AMONG  THE  NATIONS — EXPECTANT  POS- 
TURE   OF    THE    SPIRITUAL    WORLD. 

Inspired  history  discloses  the  fact  that,  subsequent  to 
the  fall,  human  nature  rapidly  deteriorated  until  it  was 
found  necessary  to  destroy  the  world,  and  commence  the 
race  anew  in  the  family  of  Noah.  This  expedient  was, 
however,  attended  by  only  temporary  and  partial  success ; 
for  another  swift  and  sad  degeneration,  hardly  less  deplora- 
ble than  the  first,  speedily  followed.  Again  God  made 
provision  for  the  preservation  and  transmission  of  a  higher 
type  of  humanity,  not  now  by  the  destruction  of  every 
family  but  one,  but  by  the  selection  of  one  particular 
family  or  line  from  all  the  rest, — that  of  the  princely,  the 
faithful,  the  righteous  Abraham. 

Tills  man.  so  rich  in  all  human  and  all  saintly  attributes, 
without  doubt  the  noblest  of  all  the  ancient  world,  was 
sinfded  out  from  all  men.  and  constituted  by  solemn  cove- 
nant,  the  father  of  a  new  race, — a  race,  purer,  stronger, 
and  more  susceptible  to  special  inspiration  than  any 
other, — a  race  to  be  walled  in  from  the  degraded  heathen 


PKEPARATION    FOR    CHRIST's    COMING.  61 

world  by  peculiar  laws,  institutions,  and  rites,  lest  the 
chosen  seed  should  be  corrupted  by  base  admixtures 
or  become  wholly  lost  among  alien  and  heathen  nations. 
The  express  import  of  the  "covenant"  made  with  Abraham 
was,  that  through  him  should  be  provided  that  "  Seed  "  in 
whom  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.  He 
was  set  apart  as  the  progenitor  of  the  Messiah,  by  a  great 
and  solemn  rite,  by  which  j^ctierni/i/  itself  was  consecrated 
in  all  his  descendants.  Many  ages,  however,  must  elapse 
before  the  appearance  of  a  proper  7}iaternity  through  which 
the  Son  of  God  could  make  His  entrance  into  the  line  of 
transmitted  humanity.  His  human  lineage  stretched 
through  four  thousand  years :  during  all  that  period  His 
"  body  " — His  manhood — was  in  process  of  preparation.* 
So  long  did  it  take  to  prepare  that  "  dry  ground  "  out  of 
which  Jesus  was  to  grow  as  a  "  tender  plant."  f 

From  this  original  selection  of  the  Hebrew  race,  it  will 
be  seen  that,  while  civilization, — governments,  laws,  sci- 
ences and  arts, — might  come  from  the  Gentile  nations; 
religion, — revelation,  spiritual  worship,  an  atonement,  and 
complete  redemption, — must  come  of  the  chosen  people ; — 
"  salvation  is  of  the  Jews."  %  Hence,  the  special  prepara- 
tion for  the  Lord's  coming,  wdiich  the  world  was  to  witness, 
lay  among  this  chosen  people.  It  was  precisely  with  this 
end  in  view,  that  they  were  kept  for  centuries  so  secluded 
from  the  Gentile  world,  and  so  immediately  under  the 
divine  control  and  discipline.  The  direct  intent  in  all  this 
training,  was  the  development  in  the  nation  of  the  proper 
religious  character  to  secure  the  great  ends  of  the  divine 
plan.  This  character  was  the  manifest  result  of  a  long- 
continued  process  of  supernatural  education;  for  the  as- 
sumption which  some  have  been  disposed  to  accept, — that 
the  Hebrew  race  was  originally  religious  above  all  others, — 

*Heb.,  X.  5.  tisa.,  liii.  2.  J  John  iv.  22. 


62  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

is  altogether  unreasonable:  there  is  no  warrant  for  it 
whatever  in  history. 

This  education  of  the  Hebrew  race  for  its  high  and 
peculiar  mission  is  the  constant  theme  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures.  It  is  there  seen  to  have  been  shaped 
throughout  by  providential  wisdom  to  the  exact  condition 
of  the  race.  The  life  of  nations  is  analogous  to  that  of 
individuals:  both  have  their  successive  stages  of  growth 
and  degrees  of  maturity.  The  Hebrews,  though  a  strong 
and  heroic  race,  Avere  yet  in  their  infancy;  and  that  in- 
fancy, while  not  without  a  certain  docility  and  trustfulness 
which  gave  promise  of  future  improvement,  was  still  wild, 
sensual,  wilful,  passionate.  Hence,  the  discipline  appointed 
for  them  was  adapted  to  just  such  a  childhood.  It  was  a 
di^^cipline  of  stern,  inexorable  law,  supernaturally  de- 
clared, and  enforced  by  temporal  punishments  inflicted 
by  the  Divine  Lawgiver  himself,  who  came  among  them, 
almost  from  day  to  day,  as  a  personal  sovereign. 

A  peculiar  significance  attaches  to  this  constant  per- 
sonal manifestation  of  Jehovah  to  the  Hebrew  mind.  The 
great,  the  almost  inevitable  drift  of  mind  under  the  sole 
guidance  of  nature,  is  towards  a  polytheistic  faith.  Poly- 
theism, in  some  form,  may  be  said  to  be  the  natural  re- 
ligion of  all  the  simpler  and  more  untutored  races.  But, 
from  the  ensnaring  influence  and  control  of  this  polythe- 
ism,— this  manifold  nature-worship, — it  was,  first  of  all, 
necessary  that  the  chosen  people  of  God  should  be  ex- 
tricated. Monotheism  was  to  become  the  natural  and 
habitual  posture  of  their  minds :  they  must  be  brought 
to  believe  inflexiljly  in  the  grand  truth  so  emphatically 
announced  by  their  great  human  law-giver;  "Hear,  0 
Israel:  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord."* 

"  We  do  not  realize  how  hard  this  was  to  acquire,  be- 

*Deut.  vi.  4. 


PREPARATION    FOR    CHRIST'S    COMING.  63 

cause  we  have  never  had  to  acquire  it;  and,  in  reading 
the  Old  Testament,  we  look  on  the  repeated  idolatries  of 
the  chosen  people  as  wilful  backslidings  from  an  element- 
ary truth  within  the  reach  of  children,  rather  than  as 
stumblings  in  learning  a  very  difficult  lesson, — difficult 
even  for  cultivated  men.  In  reality,  elementary  truths 
are  the  hardest  to  learn,  unless  we  pass  our  childhood  in 
an  atmosphere  thoroughly  hnpregnated  with  them ;  and 
then  we  imbibe  them  unconsciously,  and  find  it  difficult 
to  perceive  their  difficulty."  * 

Now,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  a  faith  in  one 
living  and  true  God,  would  ever  have  become  deeply 
rooted  in  the  Jewish  mind,  had  it  not  been  for  the  fre- 
quent miraculous  manifestations  of  God  to  His  people,  in 
Egypt,  at  the  Red  Sea,  in  the  wilderness,  during  their  in- 
troduction into  the  Promised  Land,  and  at  intervals  during 
the  long  and  checkered  period  of  their  subsequent  history. 
Besides  these,  the  law  was  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  them 
unto  Christ.  It  revealed  Jehovah  as  one,  living,  personal, 
holy  sovereign ;  it  declared  by  many  solemn  utterances 
and  impressive  rites,  the  sinfulness  of  man  and  the  neces- 
sity of  an  atoning  sacrifice  ;  and  it  pointed  by  many  sacred 
institutions  and  august  ceremonies, — indeed  by  the  entire 
constitution  of  that  wonderful  theocracy,  to  the  coming 
Messiah. 

To  all  this  was  added  the  power  of  prophetic  revelation. 
Of  the  force  and  importance  of  this  element,  the  words 
of  Neander  are  strikingly  suggestive.  "All  great  events 
which  have  introduced  a  new  development  in  human  his- 
tory, have  been  preceded  by  conscious  or  unconscious 
prophecy.  This  may  seem  strange  to  such  as  ascribe  to 
God  the  apathy  of  the  stoics ;  or  to  such  as  believe  in  a 
cold,  iron  necessity  of  an  immanent  Spirit  of  Nature. 

*  Essays  and  Reviews,  page  13. 


64  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

But  to  none  who  believe  in  a  personal  self-consciou8 
Deity, — a  God  of  eternal  love,  who  is  nigh  unto  every 
man,  and  listens  willingly  to  the  secret  sighs  of  longing 
souls,  can  it  appear  unworthy  of  such  a  Being  to  respond 
to  great  world-historical  epochs,  by  responding  to  such 
longings,  in  special  revelations,"* 

This  remark  holds  good,  in  the  highest  degree,  of  that 
greatest  epoch  in  human  history, — the  incarnation  of  the 
only  begotten  Son  of  God.  During  the  ages  preceding 
the  birth  of  Christ,  the  wdiole  human  world  was  travailing 
in  pain  with  one  great  hope,  dim  and  half-unconscious  in 
the  earlier  generations,  but  growing  more  definite  and  in- 
tense, as  the  time  for  its  fulfillment  approached.  Whether 
we  attribute  its  existence  to  traditions  handed  down  from 
primeval  generations,  or  to  sporadic  revelations  sometimes 
vouchsafed  to  the  Gentiles,  or  to  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews, 
enlightened  as  they  were,  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  or  to 
the  instinctive  yearnings  of  natural  religion  in  the  human 
heart ;  we  know  that  such  a  hope  pervaded  even  the  pagan 
world,  long  before  the  angelic  song  thrilled  the  awe-struck 
shepherds  of  Bethlehem.  The  noblest  of  all  Greek  minds, 
"the  divine  Plato,"  expressed  in  language  which  seems 
almost  prophetic,  the  desire  and  expectation  of  an  in- 
spired teacher,  and  the  certainty  of  his  rejection  and 
ignominious  death.  We  learn,  also,  not  only  from  Jose- 
phus,  but  from  two  Eoman  historians,  Tacitus  and  Sueto- 
nius, that  about  the  time  of  our  Lord's  advent  a  rumor 
was  spread  abroad  over  all  the  East,  of  the  speedy  coming 
of  a  great  King  who  should  reign  over  all  the  world, 
These  yearnings  of  the  pagan  mind  were  what  Neandei 
calls  unconscious  prophecy. 

It  was,  however,  in  the  Hebrew  race,  that  the  longings 
of  humanity  for  a  divine  Redeemer  were  shaped  by  the 


*Neander's  "Life  of  Christ,"  page  21. 


PREPAIIATION    FOR    CIIKLST's    COMING.  C5 

spirit  of  prophecy  into  definite  «ind  earnest  expectation. 
From  the  hoary  centuries,  echoes  of  j)rophetic  song  reach 
our  ears, — at  first  far-off  and  faint,  but  growing  deep  and 
clear,  and  many-voiced  along  the  nearer  sweep  of  the  de- 
scending stream  of  the  ages.  Abraham  sees  the  day  of 
Christ  and  is  glad.  Moses,  from  the  cloud  and  flame  of 
Sinai,  stretches  forth  his  hand  to  point  the  chosen  people 
to  the  coming  w^orld-prophet.  David  sweeps  his  wondi"Ous 
harp  with  a  bolder  hand,  as  he  sings  of  the  coming  King 
who  shall  have  dominion  from  sea  to  sea,  so  long  as  the 
moon  endureth.  At  length,  "  the  bard  of  bards,"  the 
sublime  Isaiah,  takes  up  the  strain.  When  the  lark,  from 
her  lowly  nest  in  the  meadow,  descries  the  first  pale  ray  of 
dawn  in  the  heavens,  she  springs  upward  above  the  moun- 
tain summits  into  the  kindling  azure,  and  there,  under  the 
edge  of  some  rosy  cloud, 

"  Sin<rin2;,  slnerino;, 
The  clouds  and  the  sky  about  her  ringing," 

welcomes  the  sun,  and  with  the  morning  star  is  co-herald 
of  the  day :  so  this  wondrous  seer  soared  above  the  shadows 
of  earth  and  caught  bright  glimpses  of  the  rising  sun  of 
righteousness.  Hark !  clear,  solemn,  exultant  is  his  song : 
"  Unto  us  a  child  is  born ;  unto  us  a  Son  is  given ;  and 
the  government  shall  be  upon  His  shoulder;  and  His  name 
shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God, 
the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace."*  Later 
prophets, — Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  Haggai,  Zechariah, 
Malachi, — take  up  the  same  great  strain,  with  varied  and 
unequal,  yet  divine  melody.  Thus  we  may  think  of  the 
approach  of  the  Deliverer,  as  of  the  progress  of  some 
mighty  prince,  the  liberator  of  an  oppressed  nation,  pro- 
claimed by  watchmen  on  the  mountain  heights,  who 
successively  catch  and  transmit  the  flying  joy,'  till  a  con- 

*  Isaiah  ix,  6. 


66  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIPJST. 

tinent  is  blazing  with  bonfires  and  shaken  by  acclamations. 
'•  How  beautiful  upon  the  moiuitains  are  the  feet  of  Him 
that  bringeth  good  tidings;  that  publisheth  peace;  that 
bringeth  good  tidings  of  good;  that  publisheth  salvation."* 

As  the  mighty  work  of  preparation  advanced  to  its 
consummation,  the  world  was  agitated  with  presentiments 
of  vast,  mysterious  changes  approaching.  Externally, 
however,  the  world  was  quiet:  the  nations  lay  without  a 
struggle  in  the  iron  embrace  of  the  great  Roman  despo- 
tism. So  successfully  had  Augustus  wielded  the  tremen- 
dous forces  of  the  empire,  that  the  temple  of  Janus  was 
shut  for  twelve  years, — a  fact  of  great  significance  in  its 
relation  to  the  advent  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

In  the  meantime,  the  spiritual  world  was  not  indifferent 
to  the  near  approach  of  this  great  event,  so  pre-eminent 
in  the  history,  not  of  the  earth  alone,  but  also  of  the  whole 
universe.  It  is  clear  from  many  allusions  in  the  Scriptures, 
that  fallen  spirits  were  watching  with  trembling  concern 
for  the  manifestation  of  the  "  Seed  of  the  woman^'  of  whom 
it  had  been  foretold  that  he  should  bruise  the  head  of  the 
serpent;  and  that,  about  this  time,  they  made  a  mighty 
effort  to  gain  entire  possession  of  the  bodies  and  the  souls 
of  men.  Multitudes  of  demoniacs  appear  to  have  wandered 
over  the  earth, -and  especially  over  the  Holy  Land,  and 
infernal  signs  and  wonders  everywhere  astonished  and  de- 
luded the  people.  On  tlie  other  hand,  heaven  was  full  of 
joyous  expectation.  The  eyes  of  an  innumerable  com- 
pany of  angels  were  turned  toward  tlie  earth,  watching 
the  progress  of  these  august  events,  and  looking  for  the 
birth  of  Him  who  was  to  reign  sui^reme  over  all  their  re- 
splendent hosts.  Thus, "  the  fulness  of  the  time  "  had  come, 
— heaven  and  earth  were  waiting — all  things  were  ready. 

*  Isaiah  la.  7. 


PART    II. 


The  Birth  and  Early  Life 
of  Jesus. 


CHAPTER    I. 
THE  VIRGIN  MOTHER. 

THE  MOTHER  OF  JESUS — HER  CHARACTER — NECESSARY  REVERENCE  FOR 
THE  CHARACTER  OF  MARY — IDEA  THAT  SHE  AVAS  A  MERE  ORDINARY 
WOMAN,  UNREASONABLE — CORRECT  VIEW  OF  HER  SINLESSNESS,  AS  OI'- 
POSED  TO  THE  DOGMA  OF  THE  "IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION" — MARY 
THE  CONSUMMATE  FLOWER  OF  WOMANHOOD — ALLE(;ORICAL  ILLUSTRA- 
TION OF  HER  RELATIONS  TO  THE  DIVINE  AND  THE  HUMAN  AS  FOUXO 
IN   JESUS — PRACTICAL    APPLICATION    SUGGESTED. 

The  mother  of  Jesus  was  a  virgin  of  Nazareth,  in  Galilee. 
Though  of  lowly  condition,  she  was  of  David's  line.  Of 
her  previous  history,  nothing  is  known  except  that  she 
had  been  espoused  to  Joseph,  a  carpenter,  who  was  hnn- 
self  of  royal  descent.  Mary  was  living  a  secluded  and 
peaceful  life,  the  purest,  meekest,  holiest  of  all  the  daugh- 
ters of  earth.  Though  her  nature,  being  human  nature,  was 
defiled,  she  was  prepared  by  special  sanctifying  grace,  for 
the  transcendent  honor  to  which  she  was  elected,  that  of 
maternity  to  the  incarnate  Word.  "  Her  employment  was 
holy  and  pious,  her  person  young,  her  years  florid  and 
springing,  her  mind  humble  and  a  rare  repository  of  divine 
graces."  * 

A  true  faith  in  the  incarnation,  and  reverence  for  "  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,"  can  not  but  engender  a  profound 
love  and  veneration  for  the  Virgin  Mother.  We  can  not 
in  the  same  breath  pronounce  Jesus  sinless  and  divine, 
and  speak  of  Mary  as  we  do  of  other  women.     That  she 

*  Jeremy  Taylor. 


70  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

was  chosen  to  an  office  and  an  honor  so  absolutely  unique 
as  that  of  maternity  to  the  "  only  begotten  Son  of  God," 
implies  a  purity,  and  a  fulness  of  grace  in  her,  which 
exalts  her  far  above  all  the  daughters  of  Eve.  That 
flesh,  of  which  the  body  of  the  ''  Holy  One  "  was  moulded, 
must  have  been  supernaturally  prepared  and  sanctified : 
it  was  immaculate,  not  in  any  Romish  sense,  but  by  the 
plenary  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

There  are  those  wdio  hold  that  Mary  was  a  woman  of 
ordinary  human  frailty  and  imperfection,  not  more  enti- 
tled to  veneration  than  other  pious  persons  of  her  sex; 
and  who,  perhaps,  will  shrink  Avith  horror  from  the  lan- 
guage just  employed.  But  surely,  they  can  have  no  proper 
conception  of  the  Incarnation ;  they  can  not  have  deeply 
pondered  the  mystery  that  Mary's  child  was,  by  an  inef- 
fiible  generation,  the  Son  of  the  Highest;  and  that  she 
nourished  and  nurtured  the  God-Max.  It  can  not  be  that 
we  err  in  tlie  belief  that  such  a  relation  to  God  and  re- 
demption, implies  a  degree  of  sanctity  in  Mary  to  which 
no  other  woman  ever  attained. 

The  Romish  dogma  of  the  "Immaculate  Conception," 
which  will,  doubtless,  occur  to  the  reader,  is  only  an  ex- 
travagant exaggeration  of  a  great  truth  which  we  feel, 
even  while  we  confess  our  inability  to  define  it  in  logical 
terms.  We  may  well  hesitate  to  say  that  the  Virgin 
Mother  was  free  from  all  taint  of  original  sin ;  but  we  can 
not  briuLf  ourselves  to  assert,  on  the  other  hand,  that  she 
was  a  sinner.  She  was  in  such  sense  sinless,  that  no  taint 
of  corruption  was  or  could  be  transmitted  by  her  to  her 
offspring, — that  "Holy  Thing"  which  was  born  of  her. 
It  seems  necessary  to  admit  that  she  Avas  the  perfect  floAvcr 
of  womanhood ;  the  beautiful,  crowning  result  of  that  de- 
velopment of  the  chosen  seed  which  took  place  under 
age-long,  divine  culture. 

They  say  there  is  a  plant,  which,  at  the  end  of  a  hun- 


THE    VIRGIN    MOTHER.  71 

(Ired  years,  produces  a  surpassingly  lovely  flower,  and 
never  blooms  again.  I  was  about  to  say — God  forgive 
my  unthinking  rashness, — that  such  a  flower  was  the  man 
Christ  Jesus.  But  we  must  not  think  of  humanity  as 
putting  forth,  by  its  own  inherent  virtue,  such  wisdom, 
such  purity,  such  beauty  of  holiness.  Let  us  rather  think 
of  Christ  as  springing  up,  in  the  course  of  a  true  historical 
development,  but  a  development,  determined  and  carried 
on  by  a  supernatural  training ;  and,  at  last,  by  a  stupen- 
dous miracle,  heightened  into  a  positive  though  incom- 
prehensible union  of  the  human  with  the  Divine.  The 
consummation  of  this  training  of  humanity,  and  the 
manifestation  of  this  union  of  humanity  with  the  Divine 
must  be  found  in  the  Virgin  Mother. 

The  thought  may,  perhaps,  be  better  represented  by  an 
allegory  than  by  any  formal  statement.  Let  us  take  the 
following  as  adapted  to  our  purpose:  Among  the  plants 
that  grew  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  was  one  so  wondrous 
fair  that  the  angels  came  flying  in  troops  to  gaze  at  it. 
Its  fragrance  filled  all  the  garden,  and  made  the  winds 
faint  with  pleasure.  Once  on  a  time,  a  foul  demon  stole 
into  the  garden  and  breathed  upon  the  plant,  and  its 
beauty  withered,  and  its  fragrance  was  changed  to  poison- 
ous exhalations.  Then  the  decree  went  forth  that  it 
should  no  longer  grow  in  Eden's  soil ;  and  the  angels,  by 
permission,  transplanted  it  to  the  lower  world  and  affec- 
tionately tended  it  there;  for  they  remembered  what  it 
had  once  been.  But  it  was  sickly  and  drooping;  and, 
though  it  could  not  utterly  die,  year  after  year,  age  after 
age  elapsed,  and  it  put  forth  neither  flowers  nor  fruit, 
but  was  covered  with  thorns  and  unsightly  excrescences. 
But  the  angels  never  grew  weary ;  for  they  had  .been  cer- 
tified that,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  it  should  put  forth  a 
flower  more  sweet  and  beautiful  than  it  had  borne  in 
Paradise.     So  they  pruned  it,  and  dug  around  its  roots. 


72  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

and  watered  it  with  dews  brought  from  its  native  Eden. 
After  some  ages  it  be":an  to  show  sigrns  of  increasino*  vi- 
tality;  its  leaves  were  greener,  and,  among  them  were 
sometimes  fomid  sweet  flower-buds,  which,  however,  drop- 
ped olT  without  unfolding.  Thus  the  ages  wore  on,  and 
the  plant  grew  into  a  stately  and  vigorous  tree.  Yet,  at 
the  end  of  four  thousand  years  no  blossom  appeared 
on  its  branches ;  and  the  angels  whispered  sadly,  one  to 
another:  "How  long?"  But  the  time  had  come.  In 
heaven,  close  to  the  throne  of  God,  grows  the  amaranth, — 
immortal  tree,  drawing  its  life  from  Him  who  sitteth  upon 
the  throne.  And  now  there  was  a  wonder  in  heaven. 
Forth  from  the  throne  there  came  a  Dove, — how  white 
and  pure  words  can  not  tell, — and  plucked  a  bud  from  the 
amaranth,  and  bore  it  to  the  earth.  Standing  around 
their  beloved  tree,  the  angels  saw  the  Dove  hovering 
over  it.  Selecting  the  fairest  bough — the  bough  nearest 
heaven, — the  Dove  drew  close,  and  by  some  unknown, 
wondrous  art,  fastened  the  bud  upon  it,  and  disappeared. 
And,  lo!  the  bud  grew  to  the  tree,  and  even  while  they 
gazed,  burst  forth  into  such  miraculous  bloom  that  all 
heaven  came  trooping  to  behold  its  wondrous  loveliness. 
And  as  they  stood  around  it  in  jubilant  aimies  and  won- 
dered and  adored,  God  himself  looked  down  well  pleased 
on  the  plant  Humanity,  and  loved  it  for  the  sake  of  the 
flower  that  grew  upon  it,  which  the  angels  called  Jesus. 
Looking,  now,  at  the  Virgin  Mother  as  holding,  in  the 
sublime  scheme  of  redemption,  so  peculiar  a  relation  to 
both  the  divine  and  human,  Ave  can  not  but  feel  that  she 
was  singularly  blessed  among  women,  and  worthy  to  be 
held,  throughout  all  time,  in  profound  love  and  reverence. 
In  her  was  found  the  only  perfect  womanhood.  In  her 
MATEUxiTY  was  glorified.  Through  the  divine  favor,  she 
brought  upon  mankind  salvation  and  blessing.  May  we 
not  believe  that  in  it  all,  she  was  empowered  to  teach  men 


THE    YIKGIN'    MOTIIEK.  7 


through  all  time,  truths  pertaining  to  womanhood,  at  once 
touching  and  profound  ? 

And  this  we  say  with  deep  and  solemn  earnestness. 
For  we  can  not  see  how,  with  any  just  conception  of 
womanhood  as  sublimed  and  honored  in  the  Mother  of 
Jesus,  it  can  appear  other  than  most  astonishing  and  pain- 
ful that  woman,  with  the  gospel  in  her  hands,  can,  for  the 
sake  of  mere  fashion  and  frivolit}',  or  under  the  base  spur 
of  an  unsexed  ambition,  turn  aside  from  the  serene  and 
noble  example  of  Mary's  domestic  simplicity  and  purity, 
matronly  dignity  and  fidelity,  and.  feel  neither  the  obliga- 
tion nor  the  desire  to  emulate  it.  Nor  can  we  see  how, 
with  the  light  of  Mary's  worth  and  loveliness  reflected 
upon  the  sex,  society  can  justify  itself  in  withholding  from 
w^oman  any  means  of  culture,  which  it  puts  within  reach 
of  man ;  or  how  it  can  screen  itself  from  the  charge  of 
inhumanity  in  neglecting,  upon  any  pretense  whatever, 
to  protect  her  life  and  her  virtue  against  the  oppressive 
exactions  of  the  avaricious,  and  the  seductive  arts  of  the 
profligate. 

The  character  and.  mission  of  the  Virgin  Mother  can 
not  but  awaken  a  profound  conviction  of  the  unmitigated 
baseness  of  those  arts  which  are  employed  to  ensnare  and 
debase  a  nature  in  itself  so  lovely,  and  once  so  wonderfully 
owned  of  God,  as  capable  and  worthy  of  being  made  the 
fit  maternal  mould  of  the  humanity  of  His  Divine  Son. 
Under  a  thoughtful  consideration  of  the  purity  and  glory 
which  the  sex  attained  in  her,  it  surely  can  not  be  possible 
for  a  man  of  woman  born,  to  view  w^ith  other  than  feelings 
of  horror,  all  that  sensuality  and  vice  in  the  community, 
which  are  daily  dragging  down  multitudes  of  Mary's 
younger  sisters,  to  depths  of  pollution  and  infamy,  from 
the  contemplation  of  which  the  mind  starts  back  with 
loathing  and  horror. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  BIRTH   AND  RECOGNITION   OF  JESUS. 

tHE    AXXUXCIATIOX    TO    MARY — HER    SEEMINCr    DOUBT — MAKY'S    JOURNEY 
TO    SEE    ELIZABETH — MEETING    OF    THE    TWO  AVOMEN — MARY'S    RETURN, 

AND    JOSEPH'S     DOUBTS DIVINE     VINDICATION     OF    THE    VIRGIN  —  THE 

TAXING  UNDER  AUGUSTUS — JOURNEY  TO  BETHLEHEM,  AND  BIRTH  OF 
CHRIST — FITNESS  OF  THE  FIRST  ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  CHRIST'S  BIRTH 
TO  THE  SHEPHERDS  —  THE  SHEPHERDS*  VISIT  TO  BETHLEHEM,  AND 
DISCOVERY  OF  JESUS  —  CIRCUMCISION  OF  JESUS,  AND  HIS  PRESENTA- 
TION IN  THE  TEMPLE — RECOGNITION  OF  JESUS  BY  SIMEON — PROPHETIC 
WORDS  OF    SIMEON  TO  MARY — RECOGNITION  BY  THE    PROPHETESS  ANNA. 

Near  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Ilerod  the  Great,  the 
angel  Gabriel  was  sent  to  Mary  with  a  divine  message. 
He  saluted  her  thus  ;  "  Hail,  thou  that  art  highly  favored ; 
the  Lord  is  with  thee  :  blessed  art  thou  among  women  ! "  * 
Mary  was  startled  and  troubled  by  this  appearance  and 
unexpected  address  of  a  celestial  messenger.  But  the 
angel  calmed  her  perturbation,  saying  ;  "  Fear  not,  Mary  ; 
for  thou  hast  found  favor  with  God.  And  behold  thou 
shalt  conceive  in  thy  womb,  and  bring  forth  a  Son ;  and 
thou  shalt  call  His  name  Jesus.  He  shall  be  great,  and 
shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest;  and  the  Lord  God 
shall  give  unto  Him  the  throne  of  His  father  David ;  and 
He  shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  forever ;  and  of 
His  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end."  f 

This  announcement  awoke  in  Mary's  mind,  what  might 
at  first  be  taken  for  a  doubt.  But  her  question;  "How 
shall  this  be  ? "  was  not  suggested  by  unbelief  like  that 
of  Zacharias,t  or  Sarah,  §  but  by  a  childlike  innocence 

*Luke  i.  28.      tLute  i   30-33.      tLnlcc  i.  18.      §Gen.  xviii.  12. 


BIKTII    AND    RECOGNITION    OF   JESUS.  75 

that  sought  to  realize  to  itself,  in  the  very  face  of  seem- 
ing impossibilities,  the  full  assurance  of  its  own  blessed- 
ness* Instead  of  a  rebuke,  therefore,  the  angel  was 
permitted  to  give  her  this  explicit  answer : — "  The  Holy 
Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Highest 
shall  overshadow  thee ;  therefore,  also,  that  Holy  Thing 
which  shall  be  born  of  thee,  shall  be  called  the  Son  of 
God." — "And  Mary  said,  Behold  the  handmaid  of  the 
Lord ;  be  it  unto  me  according  to  thy  word."  f  And  it 
was  unto  her,  according  to  the  word  of  the  angel. 

Conscious  of  the  ineffable  miracle  wrought  upon  her 
by  the  creative  power  of  God,  and  longing  perhaps  for 
sympathy  such  as  she  could  not  find  at  Kazareth,  Mary 
arose  and  went  with  haste  to  a  city  of  the  priests, — 
probably  Juttah,  in  the  hill  country  of  Judea, — where 
dwelt  her  aged  cousin  Elizabeth,  the  wife  of  Zacharias. 
The  journey, — not  less  than  one  hundred  miles,- — was,  for 
a  maiden,  long  and  toilsome,  if  not  dangerous.  She,  how- 
ever, probably  traveled  under  adequate  protection,  and 
was  doubtless  sustained  by  a  serene  confidence  in  God. 
Besides,  she  was  moved  by  an  eager  desire  to  commune 
with  Elizabeth,  who  was  herself, — as  Mary  had  been  told 
by  the  angel, — the  subject  of  a  supernatural  influence 
which  had  renewed  her  youth,  and  made  her  capable  of  a 
late  but  glorious  maternity. 

The  meeting  of  these  two  women  was  touching  and 
memorable.  They  were  conscious  of  divine  mysteries 
which  were  hidden  from  all  the  w^orld  beside.  What  won- 
der that,  exalted  as  they  were  by  this  consciousness,  and 
speaking  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  their 
joy  broke  forth  in  inspired  canticles  which  have  passed 
into  the  heart  and  the  worship  of  the  universal  church  ? 
And  if  such  was  their  joy  upon  their  first  meeting,  what 

*ElHcott's  Life  of  Christ,  page  59.  fLvke  i.  35,  38. 


76  THE    LIFE    OF    CHPJST. 

seasons  of  sweetest  interchange  of  thought  and  feehng, 
and  of  fervent  communion  with  the  Highest,  must  have 
marked  the  three  months  thus  j)assed  by  Mary  with  EUz- 
abeth ! 

Returning,  at  length,  to  Nazareth,  the  blessed  Virgin 
encountered  her  first  great  trial,  of  the  certain  approach 
of  which  she  had  been,  as  it  would  seem,  wholly  oblivious. 
Joseph,  her  espoused  husband,  was  eminently  just  and 
conscientious,  and  not  at  all  predisposed  to  uncharitable 
suspicion.  But  a  fact  Avas  now  forced  upon  his  notice, 
which  shocked  his  moral  sense,  and  disturbed  all  his  pre- 
vious impressions  of  her  character.  That  he  suffered  in- 
tensely we  cannot  doubt ;  and  the  resolution  to  which  he 
came,  after  painful  deliberation,  was  not  unworthy  of  the 
man.  He  shrank  from  bringing  Mary  to  open  shame,  and 
therefore  determined  to  put  her  away  privately  without 
assigning  any  cause. 

Mary  left  her  vindication  to  God,  who  communicated 
to  Joseph,  in  a  dream,  the  immaculate  purity  and  trans- 
cendent glory  of  his  espoused  wife.  The  fact  is  highly 
suggestive,  that,  while  God  communicated  with  the  Vir- 
gin through  the  direct  agency  of  a  heavenly  messenger, 
in  the  case  of  Joseph  the  revelation  is  made  by  means 
of  a  dream  at  night.*  Joseph,  however,  heeded  the 
heavenly  intimation  thus  given,  and  took  the  Virgin  at 
once  under  his  immediate  protection. 

Our  history  here  suddenly  opens  a  vista  into  the  great 
world.  It  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  that  most  consummate 
statesman  and  politician  of  ancient  times,  the  Emperor 
Augustus.  Appreciating  above  all  others  the  value  of 
accurate  statistics,  he  often  ordered  the  census  of  particu- 
lar provinces,  and  three  times,  at  least,  that  of  the  whole 
Empire.     The  particular  census  recorded  by  the   evan- 


*Ellicott'3  "Life  of  Christ,"  page  65, 


BIRTH    AND    RECOGNITION    OF   JESUS.  77 

gelist  Luke,  though  not  mentioned  by  Iioman  historians, 
is  in  itself  highly  probable,  from  the  known  policy  of 
Augustus,  and  from  the  political  relations  of  the  King- 
dom of  Judea  to  the  Empire.  During  the  first  adminis- 
tration of  Cyrenius,  or  Quirinus,  as  Governor  of  Syria,* 
the  Emperor  ordered  a  general  census  of  the  countries 
under  his  rule,  partly  to  obtain  correct  statistics,  and  partly 
to  prepare  the  way  for  general  and  systematic  taxation. 
As  Judea  was  then,  though  nominally  independent,  really 
a  dependency  of  the  Empire ;  and  as  Augustus  probably 
already  meditated  reducing  it  to  the  condition  of  a  prov- 
ince, he  required  King  Herod  to  take  its  census.  This 
was,  of  course,  done  according  to  Jewish  usage, — that  is 
to  say,  by  tribes  and  families. 

In  accordance  with  the  decree  of  Augustus,  Joseph  and 
Mary,  being  of  the  house  of  David,  repaired  to  Bethle- 
hem, the  original  seat  of  the  house.  Finding  the  inn,  or 
caravansera,  overflowing  with  people  who  had  come  there 
on  the  same  errand,  they  took  up  their  temporary  abode 
in  a  stable,  said  to  have  been  a  grotto  hewTi  from  the 
rock.  There  was  born,  about  four  years  before  our  era, — 
in  what  month  and  on  what  day  is  unknown, — the  AVon- 
drous  Child  in  whom  the  whole  world  was  new-born. 
That  event, — the  greatest  of  all  history, — was  unnoticed 
by  the  world.  In  the  palaces  of  kings,  in  the  cabinets  of 
statesmen,  in  the  camps  of  warriors,  none  dreamed  that 
old  things  were  passed  away,  and  all  things  were  become 
new.  Only  in  the  world  of  superhuman  intelligences, 
was  there  a  vivid  consciousness  of  the  grandeur  of  the 
event. 

Leaving  the  child  Jesus  in  the  manger  in  which  He  was 
laid,  let  us  go,  in  imagination,  to  the  neighboring  fields, — 

*It  is  now  well-nigh  demonstrated,  that  Cyrenius  was  twice  governor  of 
Syria,  and  that  the  taxing  took  place  during  his  first  term. — Andrews' 
*^Life  of  our  Lord,''''  page  6. 


78  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

possibly  in  the  fruitful  pLiin  below — probably  on  the 
green,  rolling  hills  beyond,* — where  certain  shepherds 
are  watching  their  flocks.  It  is  night,  and  we  can  not 
but  picture  to  ourselves  the  terraced  hill-sides,  gray  with 
olive  orchards  and  with  outcropping  rocks,  as  softened 
and  beautified  by  the  moonlight.  All  nature  sleeps,  pure 
and  peaceful,  under  the  holy  heavens.  On  a  green  mound 
sits  a  company  of  shepherds,  devout  and  godly  men,  re- 
hearsing, it  may  be,  some  of  those  psalms  of  David  which 
were  composed  so  long  ago  on  these  very  hill-sides,  and 
in  the  valley  below;  or,  perhaps,  talking  together  con- 
cernim!:  the  Kino-dom  of  God,  and  the  consolation  of 
Israel.  They  are  worthy  successors  of  that  youthful 
shepherd  who,  perhaps,  on  such  a  night  as  this,  looked  up 
from  this  very  spot,  to  the  same  resplendent  sky,  and  sang 
to  his  wondrous  harp:  "When  I  consider  Thy  heavens, 
the  work  of  Thy  fingers;  the  moon  and  the  stars  which 
Thou  hast  ordained ;  what  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful 
of  him  ?  and  the  son  of  man  that  Thou  visitest  him  ?  "  f 

It  was  fitting  that  the  glad  tidings  from  heaven,  of  a 
Saviour  born,  should  be  first  proclaimed,  not  to  the  ceremo- 
nial Pharisee,  who  Avould  have  questioned  it;  not  to  the 
worldly,  scoffing  Sadducee,  who  would  have  reviled  it; 
not  to  the  mystic  schismatical  Essene,  who  would  have 
perverted  it,  but  to  these  simple  shepherds,  these  holy 
watchers,  whose  devout  and  susceptible  hearts  would  at 
once  recognize  the  connnunication  as  from  God,  and  re- 
ceive it  with  holy  joy.  % 

And  so,  in  the  grace  of  God,  they  were  privileged  above 
not  only  these,  but  above   even  the  "Sweet  Singer  of 

*  Tradition  locates  the  scene  in  the  valley,  ahout  a  mile  out  of  Bethlehem  ; 
])ut  recent  travelers  incline  to  the  latter  view  taken  in  the  test. — Smith's 
Bible  Dictionary,  in  loco.     Sec  also  Stanley. 

t  Psalm  viii.  3,  4. 

X  Ellicott's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  page  72 


BIRTH    AND    RECOGNITION    OF   JESUS.  79 

Israel;"  for, as  they  tended  their  flocks,  "Lo,  the  angel  of 
the  Lord  came  upon  them,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
shone  romid  about  them;  and  they  were  sore  afraid.  And 
the  angel  said  unto  them :  Fear  not ;  for  behold  I  bring  you 
good  tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  to  all  people.  For 
unto  you  is  born  this  day,  in  the  city  of  David,  a  Saviour, 
which  is  Christ  the  Lord.  And  this  shall  be  a  sign  unto 
you :  Ye  shall  find  the  babe  w^rappcd  in  swaddling  clothes, 
lying  in  a  manger.  And  suddenly  there  was  with  the 
angels  a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  praising  God,  and 
saying:  Glory  to  God  in  the  Highest,  and  on  earth,  peace, 
good  will  toward  men."* 

The  anofelic  sons;  ha  vino*  ceased,  the  charmed  and  won- 
dering  listeners  hasten  to  Bethlehem,  and  find  the  heav- 
enly vision  fulfilled  :  the  Babe  lies  before  them  in  a  manger. 
With  what  acts  of  adoration  they  approached  that  holy 
presence  ;  in  what  words  they  expressed  their  wonder  and 
joy,  the  record  tells  us  not.  That  they  worshijDcd  their 
new-born  King,  we  can  not  doubt.  We  would  fain,  with 
them,  enter  that  lowly  shed  where  the  Virgin  Mother 
watches  over  her  Child.  But  we  dare  not,  like  Roman 
Catholic  writers,  lift  the  veil,  which  inspired  historj'  has 
drawn  around  that  Holy  Family.  The  hallowed  seclusion 
df  the  Saviour's  infancy  was  ordained  by  God  himself,  and 
must  not  be  violated  by  even  a  devout  imagination. 

One  fact,  however,  is  recorded,  which  is  of  great  impor- 
tance. It  is  that  in  accordance  with  the  law  Jesus  was 
circumcised  the  eighth  day;  for  he  "was  a  minister  of  the 
circumcision  for  the  truth  of  God,  to  confirm  the  promises 
made  unto  the  fathers."!  The  law  required,  also,  that 
the  Jewish  mother,  when  her  infant  was  forty  da^'s  old, 
should  present  herself  in  the  temple  and  offer  sacrifices 
for  her  purification,  and  for  the  redemption  of  her  first- 

*Luke  ii.  9-14.  tRom.  xv.  8. 


80  THE    IA¥K    OF    CUKIST. 

born.  Mary  and  Joseph  had  no  dispensation  from  the 
letter  of  the  hiw, — Jesus  from  his  birth  must  fulfill  all 
righteousness.  Hence,  the  Holy  Family  went,  at  the 
prescribed  time,  to  Jerusalem. 

And  now  the  "Desire  of  all  nations  comes  to  His  tem- 
ple ; "  lying  a  helpless  infant  in  his  mother's  arms,  He  is 
unrecognized  except  by  two  devout  persons,  who  w^ere 
supernaturally  enlightened  to  discern  in  that  Infant  the 
long-expected  Messiah.  The  aged  and  inspired  Simeon, 
to  whom  it  had  been  revealed  that  he  should  not  die  till 
he  had  seen  the  Lord's  Christ,  coming  into  the  temple 
while  Mary  was  there,  and  seeing  the  Babe,  knew  that 
his  hopes  were  fulfilled.  Taking  the  infant  Jesus  with 
the  utmost  tenderness  in  his  arms,  he  blessed  God,  and 
said :  "  Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace ; 
for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation,  which  Thou  hast 
prepared  before  the  face  of  all  people ;  a  light  to  lighten 
the  Gentiles,  and  the  glory  of  thy  people  Israel."  *  These 
words,  which  have  been  called  the  "  swan  song  of  the  Old 
Covenant,"  express  a  conception  of  the  Messiah  and  His 
kingdom  so  much  in  advance  of  the  common  Jewish  idea, 
that  even  Joseph  and  Mary  were  filled  with  wonder. 

Perceiving  their  surprise,  Simeon  turned  to  them  and 
blessed  them.  He  addressed  the  Virgin  Mother  especially, 
in  prophetic  words  which  must  have  sounded  in  her  heart 
many  years  afterwards,  when  she  followed  her  Divine  Son 
to  Calvary,  scarcely  a  thousand  paces  from  the  spot  where 
she  then  stood  : — "■  Behold  this  Child  is  set  for  the  fall  and 
rising  again  of  many  in  Israel,  and  for  a  sign  which  shall 
be  spoken  against,  (yea,  a  sword  shall  pierce  through  thy 
own  soul  also  ;)  that  the  thoughts  of  many  hearts  may  be 
revealed."  f 

As  if  God  would  specially  include  both  sexes  in  the 

*Lukc  ii.  20-32.  tLukc  ii.  34,  35- 


BIRTH    AND    RECOGNITION   OF   JESUS.  81 

same  honor  and  blessedness,  while  Simeon  was  yet  speak- 
ing, an  aged  prophetess,  named  Anna,  came  in  to  the  tem- 
ple. Distinguished  by  her  purity  of  life,  and  the  severity 
as  well  as  the  devoutness  of  her  services  in  the  house 
of  the  Lord,  the  blessed  gift  of  spiritual  perception  was 
bestowed  on  her  also.  Recognizing  the  Messiah  in  the 
Child  Jesus,  she  broke  out  in  thanksgiving  to  God,  and 
with  devout  and  holy  words  "  spake  of  Him  to  all  them 
that  looked  for  redemption  in  Jerusalem." 

Having  thus,  in  every  particular,  fulfilled  the  law,  the 
Holy  Family  returned  to  Bethlehem. 


CHAPTER    III. 

JESUS,  THE  WORD  INCARNATE. 

THE  TRUE  HUMANITY  OF  JESUS — HIS  HUMAN  LINEAGE  AND  ATTRIBUTES  — 
HIS  DIVINE  SONSIIIP — THE  GOD-MAN — STRAUSS'  PANTHEISTIC  DOCTRINE 
OP  THE  INCARNATION  OF  GOD  IN  COLLECTIVE  HUMANITY — RATIONAL- 
ISM   SELF-REFUTED    AND    SILENCED — NECESSITY   OF    THE    INCARNATION. 

Let  us,  in  this  place,  meditate  a  little  while  on  the 
DiYiXE  CHILD  whose  birth  at  Bethlehem  we  have  pro- 
noimced  the  grandest  event  in  the  annals  of  time. 

Who  was  the  wondrous  pekson  whose  birth  was  thus 
heralded  and  announced  by  angels  ?  He  is  presented  to 
our  view,  in  the  sacred  history,  as  a  man.  He  comes  into 
the  world  by  natural  birth ;  His  infancy  is  weak  and  help- 
less, like  that  of  other  men ;  He  is  subject  to  the  laws  of 
human  development;  He  is  liable  to  hunger  and  thirst, 
infirmity  and  pain ;  even  to  mental  limitation  and  suffer- 
ing, though  not  to  sin.  His  manhood  therefore  was  real 
and  no  illusion.  Yet  what  a  chasm  between  Him  and  all 
other  men  !  He  was  indeed  descended  from  Adam ;  He 
was  the  seed  of  Abraham,  and  the  heir  of  David ;  but 
there  was  a  divine  eleuient  in  His  lineage  which  made 
Him  the  root  as  well  as  the  offspring  of  David  ;  the  Lord 
as  well  as  the  child  of  Abraham ;  the  Son  of  God  as  well 
as  the  Son  of  Adam.  Ilis  humanity  was  truly  moulded  in 
the  womb  of  Mary;  He  took  flesh  of  her  flesh  ;  but  "His 
geueration  who  shall  declare?"  This  we  know,  that  He 
was  incarnate  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost;    that 


JESUS,    THE    WORD    INCARNATfe.  83 

He  was  the  Word  made  flesh ;  that  He  was  God  become 
man.  Let  us  not  thmk  of  Him  as  a  man  created  by 
divine  power  and  then  taken  into  intimate  union  with 
(rod — not  as  God  and  a  man  morally  united — but  as 
God-man.  The  Infant  of  Bethlehem  was  "  God  of  God, 
Light  of  Light."  That  tiny  form  entemples  all  the  full- 
ness of  the  Godhead ;  it  is  the  true  holy  of  holies  wherein 
God  personally  dwells  and  will  dwell  henceforth,  even 
forever.  There  is  the  Well-Spring  of  life  for  a  dead 
world ;  there  is  the  Light  of  men,  the  Sun  of  truth  and 
wisdom ;  there  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  and  the 
brightness  of  His  glory ;  there  is  the  Lord  God  our  Re- 
deemer, the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  the  Saviour !  Yes, — we 
adore  Thee,  Son  of  the  Virgin,  Son  of  God!  Seeing 
Thee  we  see  the  Father !  We  worship  Thee,  in  whom 
God  is  become  man  and  man  is  taken  into  God ! 

Does  such  a  union  of  the  infinite  and  the  finite,  of  the 
eternal  and  the  temporal,  of  the  divine  and  the  human, 
seem  incomprehensible  ?  It  is  incomprehensible ;  the 
Scriptures  declare  that  it  is  the  "  great  mystery  of  godli- 
ness." We  can  not  hope  to  understand  it,  in  any  scientific 
sense,  even  in  eternity.  It  is  to  be  apprehended  by  faith 
alone ;  for  "  spiritual  things  are  spiritually  discerned." 
Nevertheless,  there  is  a  mystery  equally  impenetrable  in 
all  the  workings  of  the  creative  Word.  The  recent  as- 
sailants of  Christianity  assert  the  same  relation  between 
God  and  the  race  which  believers  assert  between  the  di- 
vine and  human  in  the  person  of  Christ.  Take  the  fol- 
lowing illustrative  extract  from  an  essay  by  Strauss, 
author  of  the  notorious  "  Life  of  Jesus," — "  In  the  idea 
of  the  race,  the  properties  and  functions  which  the  church 
doctrine  ascribes  to  Christ  agree.  Humanity  is  the  union 
of  the  two  natures, — the  incarnate  God,  the  Infinite  ex- 
ternalizing itself  in  the  finite,  and  the  finite  spirit  remem- 
bering its  infinitude.     It  is  the  Child  of  the  visiljle  mother 


84  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIKIST. 

and  the  invisible  father,  Nature  and  Spirit;  it  is  the 
worker  of  miracles,  in  so  far  as  in  the  course  of  human 
history  the  spirit  more  and  more  completely  subjugates 
nature  both  within  and  around  man,  until  it  lies  before 
him  as  an  inert  matter  of  his  activity ;  it  is  the  sinless 
existence,  for  the  course  of  its  development  is  a  blameless 
one :  pollution  cleaves  to  the  individual  only,  and  does 
not  touch  the  race  or  its  history."  Those  who  thus  rea- 
son are  estopped  from  objecting  against  the  incarnation. 
Pantheism,  in  this  case,  has  refuted  itself  and  muzzled  its 
own  blaspheming  mouth.  Those  who  assert  that  every 
man,  even  the  most  depraved,  is  God  manifest  in  the  flesh, 
might,  one  would  think,  easily  concede  the  eternal  divinity 
of  Jesus  Christ.  In  fact,  however,  reason  can  not  deal 
with  problems  of  this  kind. 

The  necessity  of  the  incarnation  can  be  understood  by 
all.  If  the  moral  renovation  of  mankind  could  only  be 
effected  by  the  clear  revelation  of  a  personal  God — the 
revelation  of  essential  Love  ;  if  the  redemption  of  hu- 
manity could  only  proceed  from  a  new  creation — a  new 
birth — of  human  nature,  in  a  second  Adam,  the  father  of 
a  regenerate  race ;  if  fallen  man  could  not  even  conceive, 
much  less  realize,  perfect  human  excellence,  except  by 
the  life  and  death  of  a  sinless  man ;  if  the  human  con- 
science, burdened  with  sin,  could  only  find  peace  in  an 
infinite  vicarious  sacrifice ;  if  communion  between  God 
and  man  could  only  be  restored  by  a  Mediator; — then 
was  it  necessary  that  the  eternal  Son  of  God  should  dwell 
on  earth  in  human  flesh. 


CHAPTER    IV. 
THE  MISSION  OF  THE  "^T[SE  MEN   FROM  THE  EAST." 

HEROD    THE    GREAT — HIS    CHARACTER — THE    PROBABILITY    AS    TO    HIS    RE- 
CEPTION   OF    THE   NEWS    OF    CHRIST'S    ADVENT — THE    "WISE    MEN    FROM 

THE    east" — MESSIANIC     IDEAS     PROBABLY    CURRENT    IN    THE    EAST 

SEARCH  OF  THE  "  WISE  MEN "  FOR  JESUS — HERODS  ARTFUL  INQUIRY 
AND  INSTRUCTIONS — THE  "  WISE  MEN  "  AT  BETHLEHEM — THEIR  SECRET 
DEPARTURE,  AND  THE  CONSEQUENT  FURY  OF  HEROD — THE  SLAUGHTER 
OF  THE  INNOCENTS — DIVINE  RETRIBUTIVE  VISITATION  OF  HEROD  —  THE 
FLIGHT  INTO  EGYPT — RETURN  OF  THE  HOLY  FAMILY  TO  PALESTINE — 
SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  FACT  OF  THIS  GENTILE  ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  THE 
saviour's  ADVENT — INACTIVITY  OF  THE  JEWS  EXPLAINED — RELATION 
OF    THESE    FACTS    TO    THE    FUTURE    OF    THE    GENTILE   NATIONS. 

Herod  the  Great,  king  of  Jiidea,  fills  a  wide  space  in 
the  history  of  the  East,  during  the  half-century  preceding 
the  birth  of  Jesus.  Though  of  Idumean  blood,  he  was  a 
native  of  the  country,  and  at  least  affected  to  be  of  the 
Jewish  religion.  The  Idumeans,  indeed,  had  been  com- 
pelled to  submit  to  circumcision  several  generations  before, 
and  were  now  hardly  distinguishable  from  the  Jews  with 
whom  they  were  largely  amalgamated.  Antipater,  Herod's 
father,  had  been  a  sort  of  mayor  of  the  palace  to  Hyr- 
canus  n.,  the  last  of  the  illustrious  line  of  Asmonean 
princes.  He  was  one  of  the  most  astute  politicians  of  his 
time,  and  was,  besides,  a  brave  and  skilful  soldier.  Under 
Julius  Caesar,  he  was  procurator  of  Syria,  and  thus  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  glory  of  his  house.  His  son,  Herod, 
after  many  conflicts  and  perils,  gained  the  crown  while  he 
was  yet  a  young  man,  and  kept  possession  of  it  till  his 
death,  reigning  about  forty  years.     He  was  undoubtedly 


86  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

a  man  of  splendid  genius, — brave,  eloquent,  sagacious, 
accomplished,  and  by  no  means  deficient  in  statesmanship. 
Neither  was  he  indifferent  to  the  well-being  of  his  king- 
dom, which,  notwithstanding  his  tyranny-,  teemed  with 
population,  and  enjoyed  extraordinary  agricidtural  and 
commercial  prosperitj^  History  portrays  him  as  generous 
and  affectionate,  yet  suspicious  and  cruel ;  as  passionately 
attached  to  his  friends,  yet  capricious  and  faithless; 
as  impetuous  and  headlong,  yet  hypocritical  and  crafty. 
He  obtained  the  croAvn  by  adulation  and  bribery  of  the 
Eomans,  and,  notwithstanding  his  successful  administra- 
tion, he  drew  upon  himself  by  a  series  of  unnatural  and 
unparalleled  crimes,  the  abhorrence  of  his  subjects,  and 
of  the  world.  These  crimes  all  sprang  from  a  morbid 
suspicion  and  jealousy  which  bordered  on  insanity.  He 
barbarously  murdered  his  brother-in-law,  Aristobulus,  (a 
noble  youth  of  seventeen,  whom  he  himself  had  raised  to 
the  high  priesthood,)  because  he  was  a  favorite  of  the 
people.  He  put  to  death* his  own  brother,  Joseph,  because 
he  suspected  him,  without  reason,  of  nndue  familiarity 
with  his  wife.  He  slew  Hyrcanus,  his  father-in-law  and 
former  sovereign,  after  he  had  decoyed  him  from  a  distant 
country  to  Jerusalem.  He  even  sacrificed  Mariamne,  his 
beautiful  queen,  under  the  instigation  of  a  furious  and 
insane  jealousy  which  was  deaf  to  justice  and  common 
sense.  It  is  recorded  that  after  her  death  he  was  seized 
by  a  remorse  that  seemed  supernatural.  He  continually 
called  ujion  her  name,  and  for  a  long  time  abode  in  the 
desert.  He  murdered  his  three  sons,  Alexander,  Aristo- 
bulus, and  Antipater,  when  he  himself  was  in  the  agonies 
of  a  horrible  death.  Conscious  that  he  was  held  in  uni- 
versal detestation,  and  that  his  death  Avo\dd  be  the  signal 
for  national  rejoicing,  he  summoned  the  noblest  of  the 
Jews  to  Jericho,  where  he  lay  dying,  and  gave  strict 
orders  that  at  the  moment  of  his  decease,  they  sliould  all 


TUE    MISSION    OF    THE    WISE    MEN.  87 

be  slaughtered.  "This,"  said  he,  "will  provide  for  my 
funeral  all  over  the  land,  and  make  every  family  in  the 
kingdom  lament  my  death." 

This  gloomy,  suspicious,  and  cruel  tyrant  reigned  in 
Judea  wdien  our  Lord  was  born.  He  was  now  seventy 
years  old,  a  prey  to  disease,  suspicion,  and  all  those 
malignant  passions  wdiich  his  hot  Edomite  blood,  and 
unrestrained  indulgence  from  his  youth,  had  made  un- 
governable as  a  savage  or  a  wild  beast.  Picture  him  in 
his  splendid  palace  at  Jerusalem,  haunted  by  the  ghosts 
of  his  murdered  victims,  distrusting  his  subjects,  afraid  of 
insurrection  and  revolution,  perhaps  of  assassination,  and 
dreading  above  all,  an  outbreak  of  the  long  suppressed 
Jewish  fanaticism  touching  the  Messiah,  whose  advent 
was  now  daily  expected.  This  expectation  was  not  con- 
fined to  the  Jews  alone,  but  was  shared  by  certain  Gentile 
sages  in  the  distant  East. 

This  story  of  the  Wise  Men  is  wonderfully  interesting 
and  beautiful.  They  are  said  to  have  come  from  "the 
East."  The  phrase  is  ^vague  and  seems  to  invite  conjec- 
ture. The  most  probable  opinion  is  that  the  country  in- 
tended is  the  great  valley  of.  the  Euphrates.  Among  the 
Chaldeans  the  Magi  constituted  a  sacred  caste  oi  order, 
held  in  the  highest  estimation,  and  endowed  with  great 
wealth  and  peculiar  privileges.  They  are  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  magicians  of  later  ages,  so  infamous  for 
their  vices  and  lying  wojiders.  They  seem  to  have  been 
highly  educated,  and  to  have  exercised  their  functions 
with  a  conscientious  regard  to  the  principles  of  the  occult 
sciences  which  they  professed.  When  Nebuchadnezzar 
demanded  of  them  a  proof  of  supernatural  knowledge, 
they  made  no  attempt  to  satisfy  him  with  a  trick,  but 
honestly  confessed  their  ignorance.  When  Daniel  Avas 
made  their  president,  it  does  not  appear  that  he  found  his 
connection  with  them  a  cause  of  embarrassment  or  trouble. 


88  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

If,  as  there  is  reason  to  believe,  the  majority  of  this  order 
were  Medes  and  Persians,  they  were  not  idolaters,  but 
monotheists,  predisposed  to  accept  the  leading  principles 
of  Judaism.  We  know  that  afterwards,  when  the  king- 
dom passed  to  the  Medes  and  Persians,  the  Jews  found  in 
Cyrus  their  friend  and  patron.  It  is  probable  that  the 
prophecies  of  Daniel  were  known  to  the  Magi,  or  Wise 
Men,  with  whom  he  was  so  long  associated,  and  by  them 
the  leading  ideas  of  those  prophecies  were  transmitted  to 
their  successors.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  Persian  doc- 
trine concerning  a  Zoziosh,  or  Saviour,  who  should  raise 
the  dead  and  judge  the  world,  had  its  origin  in  the 
prophecy  of  Daniel.  It  may  even  be  true  that  the  cele- 
brated Zoroaster  lived  at  that  time ;  but  whether  earlier 
or  later,  he  must  have  come  in  contact  with  Jews.  He 
may  have  conversed  with  Ezra  or  Nehemiah  or  Ezekieh 
Perhaps  he  had  read  the  law  and  the  prophets.  Tliis  w^e 
know, — that  the  Eastern  Magi  for  generations  expected  a 
Saviour — a  great  King,  who  should  rule  all  nations.  The 
Wise  Men  of  our  history  had  probably  been  taught  to  look 
for  this  event,  since  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  order  had  maintained  a  corporate  existence  down  to 
the  time  of  Christ. 

Let  us  then  picture  to  ourselves  these  Wise  Men,  not 
as  strolling  soothsayers  and  magicians,  but  as  devout  wor- 
shipers of  the  one  living  and  true  God.  They  were  en- 
tangled in  great  errors ;  but  their  faith  was  sincere,  and 
God  regarded  them  with  special  favor.  We  are  compelled 
to  believe  that,  Gentiles  as  they  were,  and  adherents  to 
a  religion  opposed  in  many  of  its  doctrines  to  the  truth 
as  revealed  to  the  chosen  people,  they  were  just  and  good 
men  and  under  the  special  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
How  else  shall  we  account  for  their  lonji-iuf!:  and  watchins; 
for  the  coming  of  Christ?  What  was  the  origin  of  their 
faith  that  He  was  to  be  born  in  Judea,  and  to  be  King  of 


THE    MISSION    OF    THE    WISE    MEX.  89 

the  Jews  ?  They  may  have  read  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah 
and  Daniel,  or  conversed  with  devout  Jews  in  Persia;  for 
the  Jews  swarmed  through  all  the  East,  making  proselytes 
even  of  kings  and  queens;  but  their  unwavering  faith 
must  have  come  from  above.  It  was  a  faith  that  waited 
and  watched  for  the  promised  Messiah. 

The  Magi  were  sincere  believers  in  astrology.  They 
saw,  or  thought  they  saw,  in  the  configurations  of  the 
starry  heavens  the  signs  of  great  events  about  to  take 
place  on  the  earth.  In  this  belief  all  the  foremost  minds 
of  the  ancient  world,  including  Julius  Caesar,  participated. 
Even  in  modern  and  Christian  times,  many  men  of  great 
intelligence  and  undoubted  piety,  have  looked  to  the  stars 
for  indications  of  the  future.  The  progress  of  reason  has 
exploded  this  science  falsely  so  called ;  but  let  us  not 
imagine  that  all  those  who  anciently  had  confidence  in  it 
were  by  that  fact  excluded  from  the  special  favor  and 
spiritual  illumination  of  that  God  who  condescends  to  hu- 
man weakness  and  error.  In  the  language  of  another, 
"  God  condescends  to  the  platforms  of  men  in  training 
them  for  belief  in  the  Redeemer,  and  meets  the  aspira- 
tions of  the  truth-seeking  soul  even  in  its  error.  In  the 
case  of  the  Wise  Men,  a  real  truth,  perhaps,  lay  at  the 
bottom  of  the  error ;  the  truth,  namely,  that  the  greatest 
of  all  events,  which  was  to  produce  the  greatest  revolu- 
tiou  in  humanity,  is  actually  connected  with  the  epochs 
of  the  material  universe,  although  the  links  of  the  chain 
may  be  hidden  from  our  view." 

The  whole  culture  of  the  Wise  Men  led  them  to  seek  a 
sign  in  the  heavens  of  the  advent  of  the  Saviour.  Sud- 
denly a  new  star  appears  in  the  sky.  They  gaze  upon 
it  with  awe  mingled  with  rapture.  Prompted  by  an  inward 
impulse  too  strong  to  be  resisted,  they  at  once  set  out  in 
search  of  Him  who  is  born  King  of  the  Jews.     Losing  no 

time  by  the  way,  they  speed  on  through  the  deserts,  over 

t 


90  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

the  mountains,  across  the  Jordan,  till  they  come  to  Jeru- 
salem. They  find,  no  doubt  to  their  surprise,  that  the 
great  event  is  utterly  unknown  in  the  capital  of  Judaism. 
They  demand  of  Herod  where  they  may  find  and  worship 
the  new-born  king.  The  wily  and  susj)icious  monarch, 
himself  not  without  a  strong  tincture  of  superstition, 
convenes  the  chief  priests  and  scribes,  and  inquires  of 
them  where  Christ  should  be  born.  There  was  at  that 
time  a  conspiracy  in  Herod's  own  family,  and  extreme  dis- 
affection among  the  religious  part  of  the  nation.  Herod's 
question  was  intended  not  merely  to  direct  the  execution- 
ers of  his  vengeance  to  the  quarter  from  Avliich  danger 
was  to  be  feared,  but  to  force  the  authorized  interpreters 
of  the  law  and  the  prophets  to  a  decisive  statement  as  to 
the  place  and  circumstances  of  the  Messiah's  birth ;  seek- 
ing if  any  event  should  occur  contrary  to  their  version 
of  the  prophecies,  either  to  commit  them  on  the  side  of 
the  ruling  powers,  or  to  quench  forever  the  hope  that  was 
now  agitating  the  popular  mind.  The  assembly — pos- 
sibly the  Sanhedrim  itself — was  at  no  loss  for  an  answer ; 
prophecy  clearly  pointed  to  Bethlehem  as  the  chosen  place. 
Herod,  pretending  the  most  lively  interest  in  the  matter, 
urged  the  Wise  Men  to  prosecute  their  search,  and  if  suc- 
cessful to  bring  him  w^ord,  that  he  also  might  hasten  to 
the  cradle  of  his  great  successor. 

The  unsuspecting  strangers  joyfully  journeyed  to  Beth- 
lehem. They  seem  to  have  reached  there  in  the  night, 
for,  lifting  up  their  eyes  for  guidance,  they  again  saw  the 
star  standing  directly  over  the  house  where  the  Divine 
Infant  lay.  Was  their  faith  staggered  when  they  saw  the 
object  of  their  long  search,  not  in  a  palace  but  in  a  lowly 
cottage — not  surrounded  w^ith  adoring  multitudes  but  in 
the  seclusion  of  a  peasant's  household — not  reposing  on 
cushions  of  silk  and  down  under  a  golden  canopy,  but 
lying  in  a  manger !     No  :  they  manifested  neither  surprise 


THE    MISSION    OF    THE    WISE    MEN".  91 

nor  doubt.  "  They  saw  the  young  Child,  and  Mary,  His 
Mother,  and  when  they  had  opened  their  treasures,  they 
presented  unto  Him  gifts,  gold  and  frankincense  and 
myrrh."  Those  who  say  that  the  gold  was  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  His  royalty,  the  frankincense  of  His  priesthood, 
and  the  myrrh  prophetic  of  the  embalming  of  His  body  for 
burial,  probably  see  more  in  tlie  gifts  than  the  Wise  Men 
intended :  but  the  fancy,  if  it  be  quite  a  fancy,  is  harm- 
less and  beautiful.  After  homage  done  to  the  Divine 
Child  the  sleep  of  those  reverend  men  was  holy ;  God 
himself  visited  them  in  their  dreams,  and  warned  them 
not  to  return  to  Herod.  So  they  returned  to  their  own 
country  another  way. 

When  the  Wise  Men  left  Jerusalem,  Herod  doubtless 
thought  he  had  outwitted  the  heavens,  thwarted  divine 
predestination  and  taken  a  bond  of  fate.  He  had  ascer- 
tained what  time  the  star  appeared ;  he  had  thence  calcu- 
lated the  age  of  his  infant  rival ;  and  he  hoped,  on  the 
return  of  the  strangers,  to  learn  the  very  name  and  abode 
of  one  who  might  cause  him  or  his  dynasty  serious  trouble 
if  not  destruction.  He  waited  impatiently  for  the  tidings 
they  were  to  bring ;  but  when  it  became  apparent  that 
they  had  read  his  cruel  purpose  and  eluded  it  by  a  secret 
departure,  his  rage  knew  no  bounds.  He  would  not  thus 
be  circumvented ;  he  was  king,  and  he  resolved  to  accom- 
plish his  purpose,  if  not  in  one  way  then  in  another.  The 
Child  must,  as  he  judged,  have  been  born  about  the  time 
the  star  appeared  in  the  east,'and  must  now  be  more  than 
one,  and  l^ss  than  two  years  old ;  in  order,  therefore,  to 
make  sure  work,  he  sent  his  soldiers  to  Bethlehem  with 
strict  orders  to  put  to  death  all  the  male  children  in  the 
town  and  its  suburbs  under  two  A^ears  of  age.  How  this 
cruel  order  was  executed  we  are  not  told.  We  may  con- 
jecture that  the  parents  were  summoned  to  bring  their 
children  to  a  given  place,  as  if  to  be  numbered,  or  for  some 


92  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

similar  purpose,  and  that  then  the  massacre  was  perpetra- 
ted. The  butchers  of  the  tyrant  made  thorough  work. 
There  was  mourning  and  lamentation  in  Bethlehem  that 
day ;  many  a  fond  heart  was  broken.  Though  the  number 
slauofhtered  in  that  small  rural  villao-e  could  not  have  been 

o  o 

large,  the  atrocity  of  the  deed  made  the  ears  of  all  who 
heard  of  it  tingle. 

The  soldiers  return  and  report  to  the  hoary  tyrant  that 
his  decree  is  executed  to  the  letter.  He  flatters  himself 
that  the  Holy  Child  is  put  out  of  the  way ;  but  what  mad- 
ness for  a  man,  however  powerful,  to  think  of  frustrating  the 
decrees  of  the  Almighty !  The  Child  was  safe,  and  Herod 
had  in  vain  supped  full  of  horrors.  He  was  not  long  after 
seized  with  a  loathsome  and  mortal  disease.  The  descrip- 
tion of  that  disease  by  Josephus  is  too  horrible  and  dis- 
gusting to  be  quoted  in  these  pages.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  his  sufferings  of  mind  and  body  were  so  intolerable, 
that  he  was  only  saved  from  ending  a  life  of  monstrous 
crime  by  self-murder  through  the  ceaseless  vigilance  of 
his  attendants. 

While  the  danger  was  impending  over  the  Divine  Child 
at  Bethlehem,  Joseph,  warned  by  an  angel  in  a  dream,  fled 
by  night  toward  Egypt.  The  incidents  of  the  journey, 
and  of  the  sojourn  in  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs,  are  not 
recorded.  Tradition  marks  the  route  of  the  holy  pilgrims 
as  lying  through  Hebron,  Beersheba  and  the  desert,  and 
the  place  of  their  temporary  abode  as  at  or  near  Heli- 
opolis,  which  was  almost  a  Jewish  city.  All  this,  however, 
is  legend,  not  history.  Their  stay  in  Egypt  could  not 
have  been  long, — probably  not  more  than  three  or  four 
months:  the  death  of  Herod  terminated  their  exile. 
When  Joseph  knew  from  a  supernatural  intimation  that 
the  tyrant  was  no  more,  he  returned  with  the  mother 
and  child  to  the  land  of  Israel.  It  was  his  purpose  to 
settle  at  Bethlehem,  which  seemed  the  proper  residence 


THE    MISSION    OF    THE    WISE    MEN.  93 

for  David's  Son  and  Heir;  but  hearing  that  Archelaus, 
a  vicious  and  cruel  prince,  was  reigning  in  Judea  in  the 
place  of  his  father,  Herod,  he  continued  his  journey  to 
Galilee  and  took  up  his  abode  in  Nazareth. 

This  portion  of  our  history  exhibits  the  infant  Saviour 
in  relations  which  proved  prophetic  to  the  Jews  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  Gentiles  on  the  other.  How  significant 
is  it  that  the  first  intelligence  of  Christ's  birth  was  com- 
municated to  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  rulers  of  the 
chosen  people  by  travel-stained  Gentile  strangers!  We 
can  see  why  the  arrival  of  those  venerable  men  from  a 
distant  land,  and  their  great  question :  "  Where  is  He  that 
is  born  King  of  the  Jews?"  must  have  caused  an  immense 
sensation  at  Jerusalem ;  but  it  strikes  one  at  first  thought 
as  unaccountable  that  they  instituted  no  investigation; 
that  they  did  not  send  messengers  to  the  neighboring 
village  of  Bethlehem  to  verify  the  startling  report  which 
had  come  to  them  in  so  strange  a  way.  A  moment's 
reflection  serves  to  clear  up  the  mystery. 

The  priests  and  scribes  would  look  on  Gentile  religion- 
ists with  distrust  and  contempt.  "  Surely,"  they  would 
say,  "the  tidings  of  the  Messiah's  birth  would  not  be 
brought  to  Jerusalem  and  the  temple  by  uncircumcised 
heathens.  These  men  are  lunatics  or  knaves."  Or  if 
they  were  inwardly  inclined  to  attach  some  credence  to 
their  declarations,  they  were  deterred  from  taking  any 
measures  in  the  premises,  by  fear  of  their  jealous,  blood- 
thirsty king.  They  knew  so  well  his  capricious  and  cruel 
temper  that  they  felt  themselves  standing  every  moment 
on  a  volcano.  They  well  knew  that  any  interest  which 
they  might  betray  concerning  the  reported  birth  of  their 
Messiah,  would  be  regarded  by  him  as  a  sjrrriptom  of  dis- 
affection, perhaps  as  proof  of  conspiracy  and  treason. 
They  therefore  did  nothing.  When  afterwards  all  the  in- 
fants of  Bethlehem  were  slain,  they  naturally  thought 


9-1  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

the  whole  affair  a  delusion.  It  remains  true,  however, 
that  the  gospel  was  first  preached  to  the  rulers  of  the 
JeAvish  church  by  Gentiles.  The  opportunity  was  given 
them  to  know  their  King  in  His  cradle,  and  to  offer  Him 
their  homage ;  but  they  rejected  Him  from  the  first. 

The  Gentiles,  in  these  reverend  and  noble  representa- 
tives, bowed  before  the  infant  Christ,  their  bright  and 
morning  star,  in  glad  adoration.  They  had  been  under 
divine  teaching.  They  had  been  made  conscious  of  their 
great  religious  need ;  they  had  longed  and  prayed  for  a 
Saviour ;  and  though  entangled  in  great  errors,  they  had 
true  faith  in  God,  and  He  rewarded  that  faith,  by  reveal- 
ing to  them,  in  a  manner  fitted  to  their  culture  and  modes 
of  thought,  the  glorious  fact  that  the  "  Desire  of  nations " 
was  already  come.  He  vouchsafed  to  them  a  blessedness 
denied  to  patriarchs  and  prophets,  that  of  seeing  wdth 
their  own  eyes  the  "  Light  of  the  world."  Thus  early  in 
the  life  of  our  Saviour  did  God  distinctly  intimate  His 
purpose,  to  call  all  nations  to  the  feast  of  redemption. 
And  thus,  too,  was  it  foreshown  that  the  Jews  w^ould  re- 
ject their  King,  and  be  excluded  from  the  feast  till  the 
fulness  of  the  Gentiles  should  be  brought  in. 


I 


CHAPTER    Y. 
THE  INFANCY  AND   EARLY   TRAINING   OF  JESUS. 

NAZARETH — DR.  ROBINSON'S  REFLECTIONS  AT  NAZARETH — SCANTY  RECORDS 
OF  HIS  INFANCY — EMPTINESS  OF  APOCRYPHAL  AND  ROMISH  LEGENDS 
CONCERNING  IT — OBJECTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  THIS  THEME  INVALID — 
THE  HUMAN  NATURE  IN  JESUS,  SUBJECT  TO  DEVELOPMENT — THIS  DE- 
VELOPMENT, THE  RESULT  OF  AN  INWARD  FORCE — NOT  UNAFFECTED, 
HOWEVER,  BY  HIS  RELATIONS  TO  THE  TIMES — HIS  WISDOM  NEVERTHE- 
LESS, UNBORROWED  FROM  TEACHERS,  SCHOOLS  OR  SECTS — PROBABLE 
INFANTILE    TRAINING   UNDER    MARY. 

"Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth?"  Thus 
asked  an  Israelite  indeed,  who  Hved  in  the  neighboring 
village  of  Cana.  Nazareth,  from  some  cause,  had  an  ill 
name ;  and  this  is  perhaps  the  reason  why  we  are  apt  to 
think  of  it  without  pleasure.  It  must  have  been,  however, 
in  the  time  of  Christ  as  it  is  now,  one  of  the  most  charm- 
ing villages  in  Palestine.  Travelers  speak  of  its  scenery 
in  terms  of  glowing  admiration.  Embowered  in  vine- 
yards, fig-trees,  and  hedges  of  prickly  pear,  and  surrounded 
with  gardens  and  fruitful  fields,  it  nestles  on  the  lower 
slope  of  an  eminence  in  the  south-western  corner  of  a 
green  and  flowery  valley,  enclosed  by  fifteen  gently 
rounded  hills,  which  seem  to  guard  it  from  intrusion. 
The  hill  which  rises  several  hundred  feet  above  the  town, 
commands  one  of  the  most  enchanting  views  in  the  world. 
Toward  the  west  is  s^een  Mount  Carmel  clearly  defined 
against  the  gleaming  blue  of  the  Mediterranean;  far  to 
the  north  rises  the  white  summit  of  Mount  Hermon;  as 
the  eye  sweeps  the  east,  it  rests  on  the  round,  bald  top 


96      *  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

of  Tabor  and  on  Little  Hermon,  while  between  tlieni  opens 
a  view^  of  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  and  of  the  highlands 
of  Perea  beyond;  toward  the  south,  stretches  the  fertile 
and  historic  plain  of  Jezreel  or  Esdraelon,  to  the  mountains 
of  Samaria  and  of  Gilboa.  Even  now  the  country  is  well 
cultivated  and  productive;  in  the  time  of  Herod  it  must 
have  been  among  the  richest  and  fairest  in  the  Holy  Land. 

In  this  secluded  and  peaceful  valley  the  childhood  and 
youth  of  Jesus  were  passed.  Here  He  received  His  human 
culture.  All  this  beauty  of  earth  and  sky  lay  brooding 
on  his  soul  from  infancy.  Says  Dr.  Robinson,  in  his  jour- 
nal: "Seating  myself  in  the  shade  on  the  summit  of  the 
hill,  I  remained  for  some  hours  on  this  spot,  lost  in  con- 
templation of  the  wide  prospect,  and  of  the  events  con- 
nected with  the  scenes  around.  In  the  village  below,  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  passed  His  childhood;  and,  though 
we  have  few  particulars  of  His  life  during  those  early 
years,  yet  there  are  certain  features  of  nature  which  meet 
our  eyes  as  they  once  met  His.  He  must  often  have 
visited  yonder  fountain;  His  feet  must  frequently  have 
wandered  over  the  adjacent  hills,  and  His  eyes  doubtless 
gazed  on  the  splendid  prospect  from  this  very  spot. 
Here,  the  Prince  of  Peace  looked  down  on  the  great 
plain,  where  the  din  of  battles  so  oft  has  rolled,  and  the 
garments  of  the  warriors  been  dyed  in  blood ;  and  He 
looked  out  too,  on  that  sea  over  which  the  swift  ships 
were  to  bear  the  tidings  of  His  salvation  to  nations  and 
to  continents  then  unknown." 

We  can  scarcely  repress  the  wish,  prompted  by  loving 
curiosity,  that  the  evangelists  had  given  us  one  glimpse 
of  the  Holy  Family  in  their  humble  home  at  Nazareth. 
Could  we  but  see  the  Child  Jesus  among  the  vineyards 
and  olive  orchards,  and  listen  to  one  conversation  between 
Him  and  His  Virgin  Mother !  Surely  John  was  familiar 
with  that  home  and  its  inmates.     Why  did  he  not  lift  the 


INFANCY    AND    EAllLY    TRAINING    OF   JESUS.  '97 

veil  ?  The  inspired  history,  however,  was  not  given  to 
gratify  even  a  laudable  curiosity  ;  but  for  infinitely  higher 
purposes.  The  reticence  of  the  evangelists  is  a  proof  of 
their  inspiration.  The  Apocryj)hal  Gospels  are  full  of  le- 
gends concerning  our  Lord's  childhood ;  but  they  are  so 
puerile  and  grotesque  that  they  do  not  merit  serious  no- 
tice in  such  a  work  as  this.  The  Romish  legend  touching 
the  miraculous  transportation  of  the  house  in  which  the 
Holy  Family  dwelt,  from  Nazareth  to  Loretto,  where  it 
is  now  shown, — a  legend  confirmed  by  infallible  papal 
bulls, — must  also  be  passed  by  in  "expressive  silence." 
The  throng  of  pilgrims  who  daily  kiss  the  marble-cased 
walls  and  pavement  of  that  house,  would  be  more  sure 
of  finding  Him  whom  they  "ignorantly  worship,"  by 
seeking  Him  in  His  living  Word.  The  inspired  memo- 
rials of  our  Lord's  childhood  are  indeed  very  scanty,  but 
they  furnish  abundant  food  for  meditation. 

While  we  view  the  Divine  Child  in  His  earthly  environ- 
ment and  amidst  His  human  associations  and  employ- 
ments, special  caution  is  needed  lest  our  sense  of  His 
majesty  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  of  the  mystery  of  His  in- 
carnation should  be  diminished.  Some,  indeed,*  warn  us 
against  any  inquiry  into  our  Lord's  human  development 
as  a  step  toward  that  naturalism  which  refuses  to  recog- 
nize the  Divine  in  His  manifestations.  But  the  gospels 
certainly  speak  of  His  growth  in  w^isdom  as  well  as  in 
stature,  without  any  hint  touching  the  danger  of  a  rever- 
ent attempt  to  understand  what  is  meant  by  that  growth  ; 
and  the  wisest  theologians  since  the  apostolic  age  have 
deemed  it  a  legitimate  subject  of  speculation.  When  the 
eternal  Word  was  made  flesh,  He  assumed  a  real  hu- 
manity, not  an  illusive  appearance  or  phantasm.  The 
physiological  and  mental  laws  which  regulate  the  devel- 

*  See  Ellicott,  page  90. 


98  THE    LIFE    OF    CHFJST. 

opment  of  manhood  in  other  individuals  had  their  full 
and  natural  operation  in  the  Child  Jesus.  "And  the  Child 
grew,  and  waxed  strong  in  spirit,  filled  with  wisdom ;  and 
the  grace  of  God  was  upon  Him."*  This  certainly  im- 
plies that  Jesus  passed  by  a  true  human  development, 
from  the  weakness  of  infancy  to  the  full  strength  of  His 
glorious  manhood. 

But  the  unfolding  of  His  human  faculties  was  the  result 
of  an  inward  force,  a  force,  not  of  external  circumstances, 
but  of  the  indwelling  Word.  He  was,  hence,  free  from 
all  taint  of  natural  corruption,  and  therefore,  from  all  the 
moral  causes  of  darkness  and  error.  All  the  parts,  facul- 
ties, and  impulses  of  His  organization,  were  pure,  healthy, 
and  well-balanced.  Born  into  a  world  of  sin,  He  grew  up 
to  a  perfect  manhood,  by  a  light  and  energy  which  we 
ascribe  to  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelling  in  Him 
bodily.  We  are  not,  therefore,  at  liberty  to  conceive  of 
His  mind  and  character  as  formed  by  circumstances, — as 
resulting  from  such  culture  as  He  received  from  men,  or 
from  the  ideas  and  spirit  of  the  age.  He  was  in  no  sense 
produced  by  His  time.  Yet  He  stood  in  certain  relations 
to  the  modes  of  thought,  the  laws  and  institutions  of  the 
nation  to  which  He  belonged.  He  had  His  place  in  the 
historical  development  of  the  chosen  people,  and  of  the 
world.  We  need  not  therefore  deny  that  His  develop- 
ment was  in  some  degree  modified,  though  not  determined, 
by  the  facts  of  nature  around  Him,  by  His  condition  in  life, 
by  His  employments,  by  His  companions,  and  by  the  direct 
instruction  which  He  received. 

Notwithstanding  this,  even  infidels  are  compelled  to 
acknowledge  that  He  learned  nothing  from  schools  and 
sects.  His  doctrines  were  so  utterly  at  variance  with  the 
dead  orthodoxy,  the  rigid  formalism,  and  the  arid,  tradi- 

*LukG  ii.  40. 


INFANCY    AND    EARLY    TRAINING    OF   JESUS.  99 

tional  subtleties  of  the  Pharisees;  and  with  the  stolid 
materialism  and  sneering  infidelity  of  the  Sadducees,  that 
we  can  not  for  a  moment  suppose  that  lie  was  ever  influ- 
enced by  the  teachers  of  those  dominant  sects.  It  is  just 
as  difficult  to  associate  Him  with  the  ascetic  Essenes,  whose 
mysticism,  and  abhorrence  of  oaths,  and  opposition  to  the 
more  influential  sects,  have  been  thought  to  present  strong 
points  of  resemblance  to  the  teachings  of  Christ;  but  whose 
monastic  seclusion  and  unsocial  manners  preclude  the 
supposition  that  they  made  any  impression  on  the  mind 
and  character  of  the  youthful  Jesus.  The  suggestion  of 
a  late  writer*  that  Persian  ideas  had  in  some  way  found 
their  way  into  that  illuminated  mind,  is  too  absurd  to 
deserve  refutation.  Jesus  sat  at  the  feet  of  lio  Jewish 
Rabbi :  He  learned  wisdon  from  no  heathen  sage.  Greece 
and  Rome  brought  Him  nothing :  it  does  not  even  appear 
that  their  languages  were  known  to  Him.  His  townsmen 
regarded  Him  as  ignorant  of  letters,  and  therefore  mar- 
veled at  His  divine  sayings.  Jesus  doubtless  produced 
from  His  own  divine  consciousness  all  that  was  true  in 
every  religion ;  but  He  borrowed  from  none. 

This,  however,  does  not  warrant  the  inference  that  He 
received  no  instruction  in  childhood.  There  is  the  clear- 
est evidence  that  He  was  taught  the  law  and  the  prophets, 
and  that  His  meditation  had  been  therein  day  and  night. 
He  doubtless  learned  to  read  like  other  children,  though 
His  understanding  of  the  living  oracles  w^as  by  an  inward 
light.  "We  cannot  but  imagine  that  He  was  the  pupil  of 
His  Virgin  Mother.  We  shall  surely  be  guilty  of  no 
irreverence,  if  we  picture  Him  as  standing  by  the  knees 
of  Mary,  while  she  teaches  Him  out  of  the  law.  What 
must  have  been  the  feelings  of  that  mother,  as  she  looked 
on  that  upturned  face,  in  which  was  the  dawning  con- 

*  Renan. 


100  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

scioiisness  of  His  divine  parentage ;  as  she  watched  the 
daily  development  of  that  unearthly  purity  and  wisdom 
which  attracted  the  attention  and  reverent  admiration  of 
neighbors.  How  holy,  how  beautiful,  must  have  been  the 
intercourse  of  the  Virgin  Mother  and  the  Divine  Child  ! 
How  serene  and  saintly  must  have  been  the  tender  period 
of  His  infancy;  and  although  but  a  peasant's  cottage, 
how  hallowed  must  have  been  His  home 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  YOUTH  OF  JESUS. 

JESUS  GOES  UP  TO  JERUSALEM — DISAPPEARANCE  OF  JESUS,  AND  HIS  DIS- 
COVERY IN  THE  TEMPLE — REPLY  OF  JESUS  TO  MARY,  AND  ITS  PRO- 
PHETIC SIGNIFICANCE — LACK  OF  MATERIALS  FOR  THE  HISTORY  OF 
HIS  YOUTH — FILIAL  SUBJECTION  OF  JESUS — IIIS  LABOR  AND  CARE 
FOR  THE  HOUSEHOLD — IIIS  OCCUPATION — MARY'S  FAITH  IN  HIS  MES- 
SIAHSHIP— HIS  PROBABLE  ASSOCIATION  WITH  MEN — HIS  COMMUNION 
WITH   GOD. 

The  transition  from  childhood  to  youth,  in  the  life  of 
Jesus,  was  marked  by  a  memorable  incident.  It  had  been 
the  custom  of  Joseph  and  Mary  to  go  up  once  a  year  to 
Jerusalem,  to  the  feast  of  the  Passover.  As  Jesus  had 
now  reached  the  age  of  twelve  years,  which,  according  to 
Jewish  notions,  was  the  commencement  of  youth,  they 
determined  to  take  Him  with  them  to  the  house  of  God. 
Thus  He  who  was  greater  than  the  temple  appeared  a 
second  time  in  its  courts.  At  the  close  of  the  feast,  the 
caravan,  which  seems  to  have  been  a  large  one,  set  out  on 
the  homeward  journey.  Either  soon  after  starting  or 
during  the  course  of  the  day,  Joseph  and  Mary  appear  to 
have  noticed  the  absence  of  Jesus  from  their  company. 
But  supposing  Him  to  be  with  their  friends  and  neighbors 
in  some  other  part  of  the  caravan,  they  gave  themselves 
no  uneasiness.  When,  however,  the  caravan  halted  for 
the  night,  which  was  probably  at  only  a  short  distance 
from  the  city,  and  Jesus  could  not  be  found,  they  were 
filled  with  solicitude.  Hastening  back  to  Jerusalem,  they 
diligently  sought  Him  in  every  place  where  they  judged  it 
possible  He  might  be  found.     For  three  days,  long  days 


102  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

thej  must  have  been  to  Mary,  their  search  was  fruitless 
But  at  length  they  found  Him  in  the  synagogue  of  the 
temple,  sitting  among  venerable  doctors  of  the  law,  lis- 
tening to  them,  asking  them  questions,  and  in  His  turn 
e^iving;  such  answers  as  filled  them  with  astonishment.  It 
would  seem  that  His  words  were  to  them  flashes  of  divine 
light,  far  above  all  human  learning,  far  above  the  wisdom 
of  the  schools, — words  which  proceeded  from  a  conscious- 
ness of  divine  things  which  no  Master  in  Israel  had  ever 
felt.  It  is  possible  that  several  of  the  most  illustrious 
Rabbis,  on  this  occasion  spoke  face  to  face  with  Him  before 
whom  their  wisdom  afterwards  paled  its  boasted  glory. 
"  The  now  aged  Hillel  the  looser,  and  Shammai  the  binder, 
and  the  wise  sons  of  Betirah,  and  Rabban  Simeon,  Hillel's 
son,  and  Jonathan  the  paraphrast,  the  greatest  of  his 
pupils,''  might  have  been  in  that  august  company. 

Mary^s  past  grief  and  present  surprise  are  shown  in  the 
tender  words  : — "  Son,  why  hast  thou  thus  dealt  with  us  ? 
behold  thy  father  and  I  have  sought  thee  sorrowing.'"* 
The  answer  is  singularly  interesting  as  the  first  recorded 
saying  of  Jesus  : — "  How  is  it  (or  why  is  it)  that  ye  sought 
me  ?  Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's 
business?"!  These  words,  mysterious  as  they  were  to 
those  who  heard  them,  struck  the  key  note  of  His  subse- 
quent life  in  the  flesh.  They  expressed  a  distinct  con- 
sciousness that  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  come  into  the 
world  on  a  spiritual  and  holy  mission,  which  must  be 
fulfilled.  We  are  reminded  of  a  later  saying,  when  His 
work  was  well-nigh  done  : — "  I  have  a  baptism  to  be  bap- 
tized with,  and  how  am  I  straightened  till  it  be  accom- 
plished." t  That  Mary  should  have  kept  this  saying  in 
her  heart  is  not  surprising.  What  hallowed  and  precious 
memories  were  treasured  up  in  that  heart! 

*Lukeii48.  +Luke  ii.  49.  JLuke  xii.  50. 


THE    YOUTH    OF   JESUS.  lOo 

Of  the  next  eighteen  years  of  our  Lord's  life,  the 
evangelists  have  left  us  no  history.  That  Jesus  abode  at 
Nazareth  is  quite  clear.  He  did  not  wander  to  other 
countries  or  to  other  parts  of  Palestine,  in  pursuit  of 
knowledge.  Neither  did  He  hide  Himself  iu  the  desert, 
as  so  many  of  His  misguided  followers  have  done.  But 
beyond  this  we  know  nothing.  Not  a  single  incident  of 
this  long  period, — more  than  half  of  all  the  time  He  lived 
in  the  flesh, — has  been  preserved.  It  is  not,  however,  a 
blank.  One  or  two  pregnant  hints  are  dropped,  from 
which  we  may  with  certainty  infer  the  general  course  of 
His  history. 

It  is  expressly  recorded,  that,  during  this  period,  Jesus 
was  subject  to  His  parents.  This  was,  of  course,  a  free 
and  voluntary  subjection ;  and  as  He  was  now  becoming 
conscious  of  His  relation  to  God  as  His  only  begotten 
Son,  it  must  have  been  intended  to  exemplify  filial  piety 
and  obedience.  He  who  was  the  head  of  the  creation, 
and  the  source  of  all  authorit}^,  submitted  Himself  to  the 
will  of  earthly  parents,  and  with  humble  alacrity  obeyed 
their  commands.     Thus  He  "  learned  obedience." 

As  youth  waxed  into  manhood.  He  appears  to  have  re- 
garded Himself  as  by  no  means  released  from  obligation 
to  the  household ;  but  spent  many  years  of  His  best 
strength  and  vigor  in  patient  manual  labor  for  its  sup- 
port. Tradition  records  that,  soon  after  His  return  from 
Jerusalem,  Joseph  died ;  and  this  is  not  improbable,  as  no 
further  mention  of  his  name  appears  in  the  inspired  his- 
tory. It  is,  therefore,  quite  possible,  that  the  entire  sup- 
port of  the  household,  including  now  several  brothers  and 
sisters,*  devolved  on  Jesus.  This  continued  until  He  was 
about  thirty  years  of  age.     For  His  mother,  however,  He 

*  Whether  these  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  Lord  were  the  children  of 
Joseph  and  Mary,  or  of  Alpheus  and  another  Mary,  are  questions  which  arc 
quite  insoluble.     See  Andrews'  Life  of  Christ,  page  104. 


104  THE    LIFE    OF    CURIST. 

made  provision  even  down  to  the  time  of  His  crucifixion ; 
for  one  of  His  latest  acts  was  to  commit  her  to  the  care 
of  the  disciple  whom  He  loved. 

As  to  His  occupation,  it  is  quite  certain  that  He  followed 
the  trade  of  Jose2:)h,  for  His  townsmen  afterwards  called 
Him  the  carpenter.  There  was  a  tradition,  old  even  in 
the  time  of  Justin  Martyr,  who  records  it,  that  our  Lord 
"  made  ploughs,  yokes,  and  other  implements  pertaining 
to  husbandry."  Imagination  may  well  linger  around  that 
carpenter's  shop  at  Nazareth,  and  sometimes  look  in  at  the 
open  door.  Such  hands  were  never  before  or  since  laid  on 
saw  and  axe  and  hammer.  Such  a  countenance — so  full  of 
meek  majesty,  of  the  peace  of  God  and  the  presentiment 
of  a  wondrous  mission — was  never,  elsewhere,  seen  in  a 
place  of  labor  and  traffic.  Little  did  the  employers  of 
that  artisan  know  that  He  was  the  only  begotten  Son 
of  God.  They  paid  for  His  labor  and  went  their  w^ay ; 
and  He  toiled  on,  month  after  month,  and  even  year  after 
year,  in  serene  patience  and  joy,  knowing  that  His  time 
was  not  yet  come. 

While  He  was  thus  unrecognized  by  the  multitude,  we 
can  not  repress  the  thought,  that  during  all  those  toilsome 
years  there  was  one  who  received  Him  from  day  to  day, 
when  He  returned  from  His  place  of  toil  to  His  lowly 
dwelling,  with  reverent  recognition  and  unspoken  sym- 
pathy. The  blessed  Mary  never  doubts  that  He  will  in 
due  time  be  manifested  to  Israel.  Yet  she  waits  patiently ; 
no  weak  maternal  love,  no  unholy  ambition  tempts  her  to 
incite  her  Divine  Son  to  anticipate  the  appointed  time  of 
His  manifestation  as  the  King  of  the  Jews, — the  Saviour 
of  His  people.  "  Full  of  grace,"  she  rests  in  an  abiding 
faith,  and  these  are,  doubtless,  the  happiest  years  of  her 
life.     Not  yet  does  the  sword  pierce  through  her  soul. 

What  discourse  Jesus  held  with  men  during  these  years 
we  know  not.     Thou'di  His  manner  of  life  was  secluded, 


THE    YOUTH    OF   JESUS.  105 

we  can  not  believe  that  He  withdrew  Himself  from  th(^ 
society  of  friends  and  neighl)ors.  That  would  have  l)een 
contrary  to  the  sj)ij^it  of  His  religion.  He  doubtless  min- 
gled in  social  intercourse  with  the  large  circle  of  relations 
in  the  neighborhood  ;  and  with  His  townsmen,  as  occasion 
offered;*  and  His  bearing  towards  all  must  have  been 
lowly,  gentle  r«nd  courteous  ;  for  His  whole  life  was  steeped 
in  love.  Neither  can  we  doubt  that  He  lived  in  uninter- 
rupted communion  with  his  Father.  The  groves  and 
grottoes,  the  mountains  and  valleys  around  Nazareth, 
were  hallowed  by  His  meditations  and  prayers. 

*  This  is  a  fair  inference  from  Luke  ii.  44. 


u 


CHAPTER    VII. 

LESSONS   FROM  THE  YOUTH  OF  JESUS. 

WHY    JESUS    MUST    NEEDS    PASS    THROUGH    THE  PERIOD  OF  CHILDHOOD  AND 
YOUTH — NI'XESSARY    TO  A    PERFECT    SYMPATHY   WITH    MAN — A  GROUND 

OF    COMFORT     TO    PARENTS — BRINGS    THE    CHILD    NEARER    TO    JESUS 

THE     DUTY     OF     FILIAL     PIETY — THE      EXAMPLE     OF     JESUS     ENNOBLES 
LABOR — IT    DIGNIFIES    EVEN    POVERTY. 

Having  thus  brought  down  the  history  of  Jesus  to  His 
thirtieth  year,  the  period  at  which  He  w^as  to  enter  upon 
His  ministry,  we  naturally  pause  to  consider  the  question, 
Why  did  He  spend  so  long  a  time  in  a  secluded  and  ob- 
scure condition  before  engaging  in  His  great  work?  Why 
did  He  not  appear  on  earth  in  a  mature  manhood,  like  the 
first  Adam,  and  speedily  accomplish  His  divine  mission  ? 

Those  who  would  ask  this  question  have  not  deeply 
pondered  the  great  purpose  of  the  Incarnation.  Had  they 
done  so,  they  would  have  seen  at  the  outset,  that  it  was 
necessary  that  the  Son  of  God  should  acquire  by  actual 
experience  perfect  s^^mpathy  with  men."^'  He  must  enter 
by  a  true  birth  into  the  human  family,  and  must  in  all 
tilings  be  made  like  Imto  His  brethren,  that  He  may  have 
a  true  fellow  feeling  with  them  in  their  infirmities  and 
toils.  The  thirty  years  of  His  life  previous  to  the  com- 
mencement of  His  public  ministry  were  necessary  to 
(jiialify  Him,  in  His  human  nature,  for  the  headship  of 
His  people.  But  for  this  He  could  not  have  been  "touched 
with  a  feeling  of  our  infirmities;"  and  we  should  not  have 
felt  ourselves  drawn  to  Him  as  a  "mercfful  and  faithful 
High  Priest." 


LESSONS    FROM    THE    YOUTH    OF  JESUS.  107 

May  we  not  also  believe  that,  from  having  been  first  an 
infant,  and  having  thence  passed,  by  natural  development, 
to  childhood,  youth,  and  manhood,  our  Lord  regards  little 
children  with  a  more  tender,  sympathizing  love  ?  When 
we  consider  the  weakness  of  our  little  ones,  and  the  perils 
to  which  they  are  exposed  in  this  evil  world,  does  it  not 
increase  the  strength  and  tenderness  of  our  trust  in  Ilim 
as  their  Friend  and  Saviour  to  know  that  He  passed 
through  the  same  season  of  life  ?  When,  too,  we  see  them 
wasting  away  by  disease ;  when  the  little  limbs  grow  thin 
and  transparent;  when  the  dear  eyes,  once  so  bright,  be- 
come sunken  and  dim ;  and  when  they  pant  hard  in  dying; 
— is  it  no  consolation  to  us  that  we  may  commit  them  to 
One  who  w^as  once  Himself  a  helpless  child? 

How  necessary,  also,  was  this  youthful  experience  on 
the  part  of  Jesus  to  bring  Him  close  to  the  childish  heart! 
W^hen  children  are  old  enough  to  think  and  reason  some- 
what, there  is  nothing  so  fitted  to  win  their  love  'and 
awaken  their  aspirations  for  moral  purity  and  goodness,  as 
to  tell  them  of  the  "Holy  Child  Jesus."  Many  a  little 
dying  saint  has  remembered  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem — the 
Child  of  Nazareth, — and  leaped  forward  toward  eternity 
with  rapturous  longing.  When  we  consider  how  large  a 
proportion  of  the  human  family  die  in  infancy  and  child- 
hood, we  feel  how  necessary  it  was  for  their  Saviour  to 
gain  a  true  sympathy  with  them,  and  to  make  a  conscious 
union  between  them  and  Him  possible,  by  entering, 
through  a  true  experience,  into  the  facts  of  their  condi- 
tion. Indeed,  we  all  love  to  feel  that  Jesus  has  trodden 
the  very  path  we  travel ;  that  He  knows  by  experience 
its  dangers  and  sorrows ;  that  He  understands  our  tempta- 
tions and  has  fought  our  battles.  It  is  this  feeling  that 
makes  His  example  so  powerfully  attractive  to  persons  of 
every  age  and  condition. 

The  youthful  reader  will  also  see  in  the  early  life  of 


108  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

Jesus  a  beautiful  example  of  filial  piety  and  obedience. 
lie,  the  Lord  of  glory,  was  for  thirty  years  subject  to 
earthly  parents.  This  is  recorded  as  one  of  the  principal 
features  of  His  character.  And  who  will  say  that  this 
was  not  right  and  lovely?  Was  it  not  fitting  that  the 
youthful  Jesus  should  treat  His  own  blessed  mother  with 
tenderness  and  respect?  Would  not  His  character  have 
lacked  symmetry  and  perfection,  if  this  virtue  had  been 
wanting?  Surely,  it  was  important  that  loving  and  rev- 
erent subjection  to  parents  should  be  especially  exem- 
plified in  the  life  of  Christ,  and  thus  be  set  before  the 
young  of  all  times,  as  a  model  to  be  admired  and  copied. 
Filial  piety  lies  at  the  foundation  of  social  morality  and 
well-being,  and  is  intimately  connected  with  piety  towards 
God,  who  is  the  Infinite  Father  of  all,  and  who,  in  that 
character,  challenges  the  reverence  and  love  of  His  crea- 
tures. "If  I  be  a  Father,  where  is  mine  honor?" — as  if 
to  be  a  ftither  were  to  possess  the  most  sacred  title  to 
obedience  and  veneration.  The  relation  between  parent 
and  child  is  indeed  holy  and  tender.  Does  not  the  child 
carry  the  parent's  blood — his  very  life — in  his  veins  ?  Is 
not  that  transmitted  life  a  mysterious  and  hallowed  bond 
between  them? 

Filial  disobedience  has  been  branded  by  all  nations  and 
religions  as  an  unnatural,  monstrous  sin.  The  youth  who 
can  look  upon  those  from  whom  he  drew  his  life, — those 
who  tenderly  watched  over  his  helpless  infancy,  and  pro- 
vided for  his  subsistence  and  culture  in  childhood,  with 
any  feelings  but  those  of  gratitude  and  affection ;  or  who 
can  destroy  their  peace  by  cool  indifference  and  wilful 
disobedience,  is  an  unworthy  and  dangerous  member  of 
society.  Ho  will  in  later  years  be  proud,  headstrong, 
reckless ;  he  wdll  be  impatient  of  all  moral  restraints ;  the 
laws  will  be  but  as  cobwebs  in  his  pathway  of  crime  ;  and 
if  ho  escape  the  penitentiary  and  the  galloAvs,  it  will  be 


LESSONS    FEOM    THE    YOUTH    OP  JESUS.  109 

by  rare  good  fortune,  or  by  the  special  interposition  of  a 
long-suffering  Providence. 

The  example  of  Jesus  in  His  youth,  has  forever  enno- 
bled and  sanctified  labor.  Not  only  is  useful  industry  in 
general;  but  manual  labor  in  particular,  made  respectable, 
nay,  venerable,  by  those  years  of  toil  at  Nazareth.  The 
majority  of  men  must  always  work  with  their  hands  ;  and 
our  Lord  chose  their  lot,  not  only  to  redeem  it  from  con- 
tempt, but  to  teach  them  how  to  make  it  blessed.  Wo7'k 
will  cease  to  be  despised,  and  will  be  held  in  reverent  esti- 
mation, just  in  proportion  as  the  history  of  the  Divine 
Artisan  is  received  into  the  hearts  and  reproduced  in  the 
lives  of  the  toiling  millions.  In  the  same  proportion,  also, 
will  that  contempt  of  labor,  which  is  the  vice  of  all  aris- 
tocracy, and  of  slaveholding  in  particular,  disappear  from 
the  world.  The  true  way  to  emancipate  labor,  and  to 
abolish  slavery  in  fact  as  well  as  in  form,  is  to  carry  Christ 
into  the  lower  strata  of  society,  and  to  leaven  the  "  masses  " 
with  His  heavenly  spirit.  Then  will  they  be  no  longer 
looked  upon  as  "masses,"  but  in  the  grandeur  of  their  in- 
dividual development,  as  "  kings  and  priests  unto  God." 

It  must  be  also  added  that  the  early  life  of  Jesus  invests 
poverty  itself  with  dignity.  This  was  His  chosen  lot  in  life. 
He  might  have  made  His  advent  in  all  the  splendor  of 
earthly  royalty ;  He  might  have  surrounded  Himself  from 
infancy,  with  more  than  the  pomp  and  luxury  of  Solomon ; 
but  He  chose  rather  to  be  a  poor  artisan,  and  to  gain  His 
food  and  raiment  by  daily  toil.  This  He  did  to  rebuke 
the  avaricious,  and  to  comfort  the  poor  and  needy.  0  ye 
who  are  not  rich  in  gold  and  silver,  houses  and  lands;  ye 
who  feel  the  hard  gripe  of  w'ant, — look  not  with  envy  on 
those  who  are  prospered  in  the  world ;  but  rather  look  to 
Nazareth,  and  the  meek,  toiling  carpenter  there,  and  thank 
God  that,  even  in  outward  condition,  you  resemble  Him 
who  came  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  not  to  be  ministered 


110  TEE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

unto  but  to  minister.  He  has  sympathy  with  you  in  every 
care  and  trial,  in  all  your  labors  and  all  your  privations. 
What  if  He  should  turn  from  the  palaces  of  the  rich  and 
proud  to  take  up  His  abode  with  you?  This  He  will 
surely  do,  if  you  feel  as  He  felt  and  walk  as  He  walked 
when  He  was  circumstanced  as  you  are.  Be  diligent, 
submissive,  just,  contented,  and  expect,  when  Christ  shall 
come  again  without  sin  unto  salvation,  an  incorruptible 
inheritance  and  a  crown  of  unfading  glory. 


PART    III. 


The  Preparation. 


CHAPTER    I. 
THE    FORERUNNER. 

circumstances  an  important  element  in  biography — the  "hill-coun- 
try "  of  judea — juttah,  and  the  birthplace  of  john — char- 
acter of  his  parents,  and  death  of  his  father — nazaritism — 
John's  austerity  as  a  nazarite — anxious   expectation   of   the 

JEWISH  people — coming  OF  JOHN — EFFECT  OF  HIS  PREACHING — HIS 
SEVERE  DENUNCIATION  OF  THE  PHARISEES  AND  SADDUCEES — MODERA- 
TION TOWARDS  THE  SOLDIERS  AND  PUBLICANS — PECULIAR  FEATURES 
OF  JOHN'S  PREACHING — JOHN  DISCLAIMS  THE  MESSIAHSHIP  AND  DE- 
CLARES  HIMSELF    THE    FORERUNNER   OF    JESUS. 

IiS"  order  to  understand  the  character  of  any  man, 
whether  obscure  or  celebrated,  we  must  attentively  con- 
sider the  circumstances  which  have  influenced  His  de- 
velopment. Among  those  circumstances,  climate,  natural 
scenery,  early  associations,  and  manner  of  life,  including 
even  dress  and  diet,  are  to  be  regarded  as  of  considerable 
importance.  The  inspired  history  does  not  omit  such 
details  in  its  brief  biography  of  John  the  Baptist,  to 
whose  character  and  mission  our  attention  must  now  be 
turned. 

According  to  Luke,  who  alone  has  given  us  the  narra- 
tive of  John's  early  life,  he  had  his  birthplace  in  "•  the  hill- 
country  of  Judea."  The  region  so  designated  in  the 
gospels  is  an  elevated  and  broken,  but  not  utterly  barren 
tract,  lying  south  of  Jerusalem,  and  west  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
The  traveler  from  Sinai  to  the  Holy  City,  on  leaving  the 
desert,  enters  a  region  compared  by  Dean  Stanley  to  the 
lowlands  of  Scotland  and  Wales.     It  is  marked  by  high 


114  THE    LIFE    OF    CURIST. 

hills,  sheltering  green  valleys,  and  is  partitioned  into 
gardens,  cornfields,  vineyards,  and  olive  orchards.  Here 
and  there,  the  ruins  of  ancient  cities  attest  the  strength 
and  glory  of  its  former  possessors,  while  mosques  and 
minarets  witness  the  mournful  flict  that  the  followers  of 
the  false  prophet  now  hold  the  soil  once  trodden  by  the 
feet  of  patriarchs,  and  still  hallowed  by  their  sepulchres. 

On  tlie  borders  of  this  region,  which  partakes  of  the 
features  of  both  the  desert  and  the  hill-country,  anciently 
stood  a  city  of  the  priests,  the  ruins  of  which  are  still 
called,  by  the  natives  of  the  country,  Juttah.  Mention 
is  made  of  this  city  in  Joshua  and  Chronicles,  in  the  list 
of  towns  allotted  to  the  priests.  It  is  but  a  few  miles 
from  Hebron, — that  place  so  rich  in  associations,  the  home 
and  the  burial-place  of  Abraham,  the  residence  of  David 
during  the  first  seven  years  of  his  reign,  and  itself  both  a 
priestly  city,  and  a  city  of  refuge.  While  w^e  can  not 
with  absolute  certainty  identify  Juttah  with  the  "  city  of 
Judah,"  which  was  the  birthplace  of  John,  there  are  strong 
probabilities  in  its  favor.  We  may  be  sure,  at  least,  that 
he  was  born  somewhere  in  its  vicinity;  for,  though  his 
father,  Zacharias,  was  sometimes  called  to  Jerusalem,  to 
officiate  in  the  temple-service,  his  ordinary  residence  was 
in  the  '^  hill-country,"  and  there  he  and  Elizabeth  were 
living  at  the  time  of  their  son's  birth.  In  this  region  he 
must  also  have  grown  up  to  manhood ;  for  he  continued 
in  the  desert  until  the  time  of  his  showing  unto  Israel, 

Of  the  parents  of  John  we  know  little.  Their  charac- 
ter, however,  may  be  smnmed  up  in  these  Avords  : — "  They 
were  both  riirliteous  before  God,  walkina:  in  all  the  com- 
mandments  and  ordinances  of  the  Lord  blameless."* 
There  is  a  very  ancient  tradition  that  John  was  left  an 
orphan  at  an  early  age,  by  the  barbarous  murder  of  his 

*Luke  i.  6. 


THE    FOEERUNNER.  115 

father  "between  the  porch  and  the  altar;" — a  crime  to 
which  our  Saviour  alludes,  as  among  the  latest  and  most 
aggravated  of  that  long  series,  for  which  a  terrible  retri- 
bution was  about  to  be  visited  on  that  generation. 

Previous  to  his  birth,  John  had  been  marked  out  by 
divine  appointment  as  a  prophet  of  God.  By  direction 
of  the  angel  who  announced  his  birth,  he  was  to  live  a 
Nazarite.  Nazaritism  had  been  common  among  the  Jews, 
from  the  days  of  Moses,  and  probably  from  an  earlier 
time.  The  laws  established  by  him  for  its  regulation  re- 
quired the  growth  of  the  hair  during  the  period  of  the 
vow,  strict  abstinence  from  the  fruit  of  the  vine  in  every 
form,  and  the  avoidance  of  all  defilement  from  the  dead. 
There  was  nothing  monastic  in  the  nature  of  this  vow, 
even  when  taken  for  life,  and  it  vv^as  usually  of  short 
duration ; — it  did  not  involve  celibacy,  nor  seclusion  from 
the  world ;  nor, — except  in  the  particulars  mentioned, — 
did  it  require  a  departure  from  the  customs  of  society. 
The  life  of  John  was,  however,  far  more  solitary  and 
austere  than  that  of  Nazarites  in  general.  In  addition  to 
the  avoiding  of  wine  and  strong  drink,  his  food  was 
locusts  and  wild  honey ;  his  raiment  was  of  coarse  cam- 
el's-hair  cloth ;  and  he  was  girded  with  a  leathern  thong. 
It  is  probable,  also,  that  from  an  early  age,  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  prophetic  mission  cut  him  off  from  familiar 
and  cheerful  intercourse  with  the  world.  As  he  ap- 
proached the  age  of  manhood,  he  must  have  presented  to 
the  few  who  saw  him  the  aspect  of  a  hermit;  perhaps 
even  of  a  devotee,  worn  by  fasting  and  suffering. 

In  his  appearance  and  mode  of  life,  as  well  as  in  his 
character  and  mission,  John  revived  the  type  of  the  an- 
cient prophet,  coming  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elias. 
Conscious  that  he  was  divinely  called  to  be  a  reformer, 
that  he  was  to  summon  a  great  and  corrupt  nation  to  re- 
pentance, he  early  girded  himself  for  his  work,  not  only 


IIG  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

by  the  consecration  of  all  his  powers  to  God,  but  also  by 
a  most  rigorous  preparatory  discipline.  He  evidently 
realized,  what  the  general  consciousness  of  the  Christian 
world  has  never  yet  ceased  to  feel,  that  bodily  subjuga- 
tion. 1)y  means  of  prayer  and  fasting,  is  the  best  possible 
preparation  for  eminent  service  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
For,  in  spite  of  an  Epicurean  philosophy,  it  must  be  main- 
tained, that  the  mortification  of  the  bodily  appetites  by 
abstaining  from  stimulating  meats  and  drinks,  and  closer 
communion  with  the  Hol}^  Spirit,  by  means  of  seclusion 
from  the  world,  meditation  and  prayer,  are  among  the 
first  and  most  effective  means  of  growth  in  grace  and 
spiritual  power.  There  is  great  reason  to  fear,  that  as 
Protestants,  in  revolting  from  the  rigor  of  a  solitary  and 
ascetic  life,  we  have  swung  to  the  opposite  and  equally 
dangerous  extreme  of  self-indulgence  and  luxury.  It  can 
hardly  be  doubted  that  John,  by  his  stern,  self-denying 
discipline,  laid  the  foundation  for  that  spiritual  purity  and 
power  which  subsequently  enabled  him,  as  a  preacher  of 
repentance,  to  sway  the  Jewish  nation  at  will.  In  the 
course  of  this  preparatory  training,  he  waited  in  patience 
and  faith,  the  divine  summons  to  enter  on  his  ministry 
as  the  forerunner  of  Christ  of  whose  birth  and  presence 
somewhere  among  the  thousands  of  Israel,  he  doubtless 
had  already  received  full  assurance,  either  from  his  parents 
or  by  direct  divine  intimation. 

In  the  meantime,  the  whole  Jewish  people  were  in  an 
attitude  of  waiting.  Undoubtedly,  vague  rumors  of  the 
miraculous  events  which  marked  the  birth  of  Jesus,  had 
found  their  way  to  every  fireside  in  Palestine;  and  though 
the  wondrous  child  had  disappeared  from  Bethlehem  in  a 
sudden  and  mysterious  manner,  and  had  not  since  been 
heard  of  by  those  who  worshiped  at  his  cradle,  yet  mul- 
titudes who  waited  foi'  tlie  consolation  of  Israel,  clung  to 
the  hope  that  he  would  in  due  time  be  manifested.     This 


THE    FORERUNNER.  117 

longing  for  the  speedy  advent  of  the  Messiah  was  becom- 
ing daily  more  anxious  and  intense  as  the  Roman  tyranny 
grew  more  cruel  and  intolerable.  It  pervaded  all  classes 
in  every  part  of  the  kingdom.  The  coming  of  the  Mes- 
siah was  the  great  theme  among  the  priests  who  trod  the 
marble  cloisters  of  the  temple;  among  tradesmen,  in  the 
market  j^lace ;  husbandmen,  vine-dressers,  and  shepherds, 
in  the  fields;  fishermen,  in  their  boats;  soldiers,  in  their 
barracks,  and  even  publicans  sitting  at  the  receipt  of 
custom.  AVhen  women,  with  their  water-pots,  met  at 
wells  and  fountains,  they  spoke  to  each  other  of  the  Mes- 
siah. Mothers  and  daughters  talked  together  in  their 
chambers  of  their  long-expected  King,  and  listening  chil- 
dren, with  earnest  eyes,  looked  up  to  them,  and  asked : 
"When  is  He  coming?"  Israelites  "indeed,  in  whom  was 
no  guile,"  kneeling  under  fig-trees  and  in  olive-groves, 
prayed,  "Thy  Kingdom  come."  Aged  saints,  with  bowed 
and  tottering  forms,  and  beards  as  white  as  snow,  prayed 
that  their  dim  eyes,  ere  they  were  closed  in  death,  might 
see  the  Hope  of  Israel.  Thus  earnest  and  expectant  was 
the  entire  nation.  The  great  crisis  was  universally  felt  to 
be  at  hand. 

Hark!  "The  voice  of  Him  that  crieth  in  the  wilder- 
ness: Prepare  3^e  the  way  of  the  Lord:  make  straight  in 
the  desert  a  highway  for  our  God.  Every  valley  shall 
be  exalted,  and  every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be  made 
low;  and  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight  and  the 
rough  places  plain;  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be 
revealed  and  all  flesh  shall  see  it  together,  for  the  mouth 
of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it."  *  The  hour  has  struck ;  the 
word  of  the  Lord  comes  to  John  the  son  of  Zacharias ;  his 
prophetic  burden  is  laid  upon  him.  Among  the  mountains 
of  Judah  his  awful  voice  resounds  like  a  clarion:  "Repent, 

*Luke  iii.  4. 


118  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  *  He  passes  on 
from  village  to  village,  from  city  to  city,  and  his  message 
everywhere  is  the  same.  All  men  are  startled — electri- 
fied;  they  rush  forth  to  gaze  upon  the  preacher;  they 
see  his  credentials  written  on  his  brow;  they  recognize 
the  light  of  inspiration  in  his  eye ;  they  feel  that  the  voice 
which  thrills  and  subdues  them  is  the  voice  of  a  prophet. 
Awe-struck,  weeping  multitudes  gather  around  him.  They 
follow  him  from  i^lace  to  place ;  they  hang  upon  his  lips ; 
they  watch  every  gesture.  Nor  is  the  extent  of  the 
movement  less  astonishing  than  its  power.  As  he  de- 
scends the  mountains  and  approaches  the  Jordan,  he 
seems  surrounded  by  half  the  nation ;  for  the  news  that  a 
great  prophet  has  suddenly  appeared,  flies  like  lightning 
over  the  land.  The  valley  of  the  Jordan  is  one  Avild 
scene  of  excitement.  Its  dense  population  is  flowing  to 
the  spot  where  the  Baptist  has  taken  up  his  temporary 
abode.  The  intelligence  reaches  Jerusalem,  and  the  vast 
city  is  moved  by  it  as  the  leaves  of  a  mighty  forest  are 
moved  by  the  wind.  The  universal  exclamation  is :  "The 
time  is  at  hand :  our  anointed  King,  the  Son  of  David  is 
about  to  come ! "  Crowds  press  outward  from  the  gates ; 
the  road  to  the  Jordan  is  thronged;  all  classes  are  min- 
gled and  whirled  along  together.  Not  many  days  elapse 
before  companies  arrive  from  Galilee, — fishermen  from 
the  shores  of  Genesareth;  husbandmen  and  artisans  from 
Nazareth  and  Cana:  and,  following  close  upon  these,  pil- 
grims from  the  remotest  confines  of  the  Holy  Land, — 
all  rushing  to  see  the  new  prophet  and  to  receive  his 
baptism ;  for  there  "  went  out  to  him  Jerusalem  and  all 
Judea,  and  all  the  region  round  about  Jordan,  and  were 
baptized  of  him  in  Jordan,  confessing  their  sins."  t 

In  meeting  and  dealing  with  this  mixed  multitude,  the 

*  Matthew  iii.  2.  f  Matthew  i.  5,  6. 


THE    FORERUNNER.  119 

Baptist  is  singularly  penetrating  and  fearless.  He  distin- 
guishes between  true  and  false  penitents.  His  denuncia- 
tions of  the  self-righteous  and  hypocritical  are  appalling. 
Behold  approaching  him  a  group  of  Pharisees,  with  their 
broad  phylacteries,  their  sanctimonious  faces,  and  their  os- 
tentatious scorn  of  the  profane  multitude  around  them. 
Hard  upon  their  heels  we  see  another  group  who,  but  for 
their  Jewish  costume,  might  be  taken  for  Greek  Epi- 
cureans, apparently  rich,  elegant,  worldly  voluptuaries, 
without  a  particle  of  religious  faith  or  emotion.  The 
Baptist,  with  his  solemn  eyes  and  prophetic  insight,  reads 
them  all  at  a  glance.  His  face  assumes  an  expression  of 
awful  anger;  he  breaks  forth  in  words  of  terrible  denun- 
ciation: "0  generation  of  vipers,  who  hath  warned  you 
to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come  ?  Bring  forth,  therefore, 
fruits  meet  for  repentance ;  and  think  not  to  say  within 
yourselves.  We  have  Abraham  to  our  father;  for  I  say 
unto  you  that  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up 
children  unto  Abraham.  And  now  also  the  axe  is  laid 
unto  the  root  of  the  tree;  and  every  tree  that  bringeth 
not  forth  good  fruit  is  hewn  down  and  cast  into  the  fire."  * 
With  other  classes,  seemingly  more  corrupt  and  culpa- 
ble, he  is  more  lenient.  As  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees 
slink  away  from  the  spot,  behold  a  company  of  soldiers 
approaching.  They  are,  doubtless,  in  the  service  of  Herod 
the  tetrarch,  who  is  himself  the  mere  creature  of  Eoman 
despotism.  We  cannot  doubt,  therefore,  that  they  were 
held  in  abhorrence  by  every  orthodox  Jew.  These  are 
followed  by  a  group  of  publicans — Eoman  tax-gatherers 
— men  who  were  more  heavily  laden  with  the  hatred  and 
execrations  of  the  people  than  any  other  class.  Surely 
the  prophet  will  receive  them  with  an  air  of  stern  reproof 
and  righteous  indignation?     Just  the  reverse.     His  coun- 

*Luke,  iii.  4-9. 


120  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

tenance  softens;  he  becomes  gentle  and  alTectionate  in 
manner;  lie  kindly  imparts  counsel  to  both  classes,  adapted 
to  their  occupations.  He  says  to  the  former,  "  Do  violence 
to  no  man,  neither  accuse  any  falsely,  and  be  content  with 
your  wages,"*  and  to  the  latter,  "Exact  no  more  than  that 
which  is  appointed  you."t 

A  sino-le  o-lance  is  now  sufficient  to  reveal  the  strons; 
points  in  the  preaching  of  John.  Its  power  lay  in  moral 
directness  and-  pungency.  His  baptism  had  a  deeper 
significance  than  any  ceremonial  ^purification.  John  de- 
manded of  his  penitents,  not  only  confession  of  sin,  but 
actual  amendment  of  life.  What  he  most  hated  and  de- 
nounced, was  ceremonial  self-righteousness  on  the  one 
hand,  and,  on  the  other,  irreligious  worldliness.  A  pecu- 
liar effect  of  John's  appearance  and  preaching  soon  began 
to  show  itself  "As  the  people  were  in  expectation," 
daily  looking  for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  the  question 
arose  in  many  minds  whether  John  might  not  himself  be 
the  expected  One ; — "All  men  mused  in  their  hearts 
whether  he  were  the  Christ  or  not."  This  led  the  Bap- 
tist to  define  his  position.  He  disclaims  being  the  Messiah 
and  points  the  people  to  One  mightier  than  himself. 
"  I  indeed,"  said  he,  "  baptize  you  with  water ;  but  One 
mightier  than  I  cometh,  the  latchet  of  whose  shoes  I  am 
not  worthy  to  unloose  :  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire :  Whose  fon  is  in  His  hand,  and 
He  Avill  thoroughly  purge  Plis  floor,  and  gather  the  wheat 
into  his  garner;  but  the  chaff  He  will  burn  with  fire 
unquenchable."  J 

*Luke  iii.  14.  t  Luke  iii.  13.  JLuke  iii.  16,  17. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  BAPTISM   OF   JESUS. 

PREPARATION  COMPLETE — JESUS  AS  YET  rXKNOWX  TO  JOHN — JOIIX'S 
ANXIOUS  EXPECTATION — BAPTISM  OF  JESUS — NO  NEW  COMMISSION  TO 
JOHN — JESUS  WITHDRAWS,  AND  JOHN  CONTINUES  HIS  LABORS — DESIGN 
OF  THE  BAPTISM  OF  JESUS — IT  ENFORCES  THE  GENERAL  DUTY  OF 
OBEDIENCE — IT  WAS  HIS  INAUGURATION  INTO  THE  PRIESTLY  OFFICE — 
IT  WAS  A  SYMBOL  OF  HIS  WHOLE  WORK  IN  REGENERATION — ENFORCED 
BY   ANALOGIES. 

The  "voice  crying  in  the  wilderness"  has  now  sonnded 
from  the  southern  desert  to  Mount  Lebanon.  The  whole 
nation  has  been  roused  by  it  to  repentance,  and  is  looking 
for  the  speedy  coming  of  its  divine  king.  We  may  be 
sure  that  the  news  did  not  fail  to  reach  Nazareth,  soon 
after  John's  appearance ;  but  for  months  there  is  no  change 
in  the  household  of  Mary.  The  work  goes  on  in  that  car- 
penter's shop  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  while  the 
whole  nation  is  in  one  blaze  of  excitement.  But,  at  length 
the  time  is  accomplished ;  the  period  of  preparation  and  of 
waiting  has  expired;  and  Jesus  being  about  thirty  years 
of  age,  lays  aside  the  implements  of  His  trade,  and  leaves 
His  workshop  to  others.  His  hand  shall  never  be  laid  on 
axe  or  hammer  aorain.  He  leaves  Nazareth  and  takes  His 
journey  to  the  Jordan. 

If  Jesus  and  John  had  ever  met,— as  from  the  intimacy 
between  Mary  and  her  aged  cousin  Elizabeth,  and  the  cus- 
tom, doubtless  observed  in  both  families,  of  attending  the 
passover  feast  at  Jerusalem,  may  seem  probable, — it  could 
have  been  only  in  early  youth.     John  had  lived  for  years 


122  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

ill  the  solitude  of  the  desert ;  Jesus  "■  the  carpenterV  son," 
could  scarcely  have  been  identified  out  of  his  own  family, 
with  the  wondrous  Babe,  whose  birth  in  Bethlehem  and 
presentation  in  the  temple  were  still  remembered  by  a 
few  aged  saints  in  Jerusalem.  We  have  the  testimony  of 
John,  that  at  the  time  of  the  baptism,  Jesus  was  personally 
unknown  to  him.  This  was  doubtless  by  divine  appoint- 
ment, that  there  might  be  no  suspicion  of  collusion  between 
them. 

We  may  imagine  that,  during  the  months  in  which 
John  had  been  preaching,  he  had  looked  among  the 
thousands  who  came  to  his  baptism  for  the  One  whose 
shoe-latchet  he  felt  himself  unworthy  to  unloose.  Per- 
haps his  heart  had  sometimes  grown  sick  with  hope  de- 
ferred. He  knew  the  Messiah  to  be  living  somewhere  in 
Israel ;  he  knew  that  He  would  come  to  his  baptism  ;  and 
a  supernatural  sign  had  been  promised  him  by  which  he 
should  be  able  to  identify  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  But 
He  had  not  yet  come.  The  Baptist  longs,  and  prays,  and 
continues  to  preach  the  Kingdom  of  God  as  at  hand. 

At  length  his  hopes  are  suddenly  fulfilled.  There 
comes  a  youth  to  the  Jordan  in  whom  John  discerns  so 
much  purity,  meekness  and  w^isdom,  so  much  gentle  and 
gracious  majesty,  that,  though  he  does  not  at  once  recog- 
nize Him  as  the  Messiah,  he  is  struck  with  awe,  and  over- 
whelmed with  such  a  sense  of  impurity  while  standing  in 
His  presence,  that  he  exclaims,  "  I  have  need  to  be  bap- 
tized of  Thee,  and  comest  Thou  to  me?"  "Suffer  it  to 
be  so  now;"  the  Divine  Stranger  replies,  "for  thus  it  be- 
coineth  us  to  fulfill  all  righteousness."*  The  Baptist, — 
doubtless  with  a  joyful  presentiment, — yields  :  the  greatest 
of  the  prophets  administers  this  most  sublime  and  sig- 
nificant rite  to  the  one  perfect  Man.     What  must  have 

*  Matthew  iii.  14,  15. 


THE    BAPTISM    OF    JESUS.  123 

been  his  emotions,  as  descending  with  Jesus  into  the  Jor- 
dan, he  baptized  Him  in  the  Hmpid  flood  !  As  Jesus  went 
up  out  of  the  water,  He  prayed ;  and  the  heavens  were 
opened,*  and  John  saw  the  embodied  form  of  the  descend- 
ing Spirit, — the  appointed  sign  of  the  dove — hovering 
over  the  head  of  the  august  supphcant,  and  resting  upon 
Him,  and  he  heard  at  the  same  moment  a  voice  from 
heaven  saying :  "  Thou  art  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I 
am  well  pleased."! 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  what  were  at  this  time 
the  expectations  of  John,  with  regard  to  his  future  minis- 
try. Doubtless  the  question  arose  in  his  mind,  whether 
his  work  as  the  forerunner  was  not  now  ended.  Was  he 
not  about  to  receive  a  call  as  a  disciple,  and  to  be  hence- 
forth associated  with  Jesus,  in  the  work  of  setting  up  His 
kingdom?  Would  he  not  be,  at  once.  His  first  friend  and 
chief  apostle  ?  Such  an  expectation  would  have  been  ex- 
tremely natural.  But,  no!  Hardly  had  the  Baptist  time 
to  collect  his  thoughts,  ere  Jesus  disappeared.  No  op- 
portunity for  conversation  seems  to  have  been  allowed. 
There  was  no  consultation  with  regard  to  their  future 
labors.  No  new  commission  is  given  to  John.  Jesus  now 
goes  up  into  the  wilderness,  to  fight  His  great  duel  with 
the  tempter ;  John  continues  his  labors.  Having  received 
his  ministry  from  God,  he  will  not  lay  it  down  without  a 
signal  from  heaven.  Doubtless,  he  now  prosecutes  his 
work  with  increased  hope  and  joy;  for  his  eyes  have  seen 
the  salvation  of  God.  But  he  must  sometimes  wonder 
what  has  become  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Nazarene,  whose 
Divine  Sonship  w\as  so  wondrously  attested  by  a  voice  from 
the  excellent  glory. 

The  baptism  of  Jesus,  though  narrated  in  few  words, 
is  full  of  meaning.     Its   general  design  is  intimated  in 

*Lukeiii.  21.  fLukeiii.  22. 


124  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

His  reply  to  John:  '=•  Thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfill  all 
rio'hteousness."  The  whole  of  our  Lord's  life  was  a  con- 
tinual  setting  forth  of  the  duty  of  universal  obedience  to 
the  declared  will  of  God.  "When  He  cometh  into  the 
world  He  saith,  Lo,  I  come  (in  the  volume  of  the  book  it 
is  written  of  Me,)  to  do  Thy  will,  0  God."*  He  strictly 
kept  the  law  of  Moses.  He  submitted  to  all  rightful  au- 
thority in  the  household,  in  the  state,  and  in  the  church. 
He  came  to  John  to  be  baptized,  because  John  was  a 
minister  of  Jehovah,  and  because  His  l)aptism  was  a  di- 
vinely appointed  rite.  In  this,  as  in  all  things,  he  mani- 
fested that  spirit  of  obedience  which  made  His  life  and 
death  a  precious  and  acceptable  sacrifice  to  God.  In  all 
parts  and  periods  of  His  earthly  existence, — in  childhood, 
in  youth,  and  in  ripeness  of  years; — as  a  member  of  a 
family,  or  as  a  single  worshiper;  iti  solitude,  or  in  com- 
pany ;  in  the  wilderness,  or  in  the  city ;  in  the  shop  or  the 
temple;  in  honor  or  contempt;  in  hunger  or  at  feasts, — 
He  could  truly  say:  "My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him 
that  sent  me."  t 

Further,  the  baptism  of  Jesus  was  a  solemn  consecra- 
tion to  His  office  as  the  Messiah.  That  it  was  such  is  in- 
dicated by  the  fact,  that  He  did  not  present  Himself 
to  John  until  he  was  about  thirty  years  of  age, — the  age 
at  wliich  the  priests  w^ere  consecrated,  and  before  attain- 
ing which,  none  could  lawfully  officiate ;  and  that  this 
was  the  beginning  of  his  public  ministry,  previous  to 
wliich  He  did  not,  so  far  as  we  know,  preach  a  sermon, 
work  a  miracle,  or  make  a  disciple.  As  the  Messiah,  also, 
it  had  })een  fijretold  by  Zechariah,  that  he  should  "be  a 
priest  upon  His  throne."  t  He  was  vested  with  authority 
whicli  was  kingly.  Such  authority  had  been  exercised  by 
many  of  the  High  Priests,  especially  from  the  rise  of  the 

*  Heb  X  57.    t  Wilberforce  on  the  Incarnation,  pp.  178, 180.    JZech.  vi.  13. 


THE    BAPTISM    OF   JESUS.  125 

Maccabees  to  the  accession  of  Herod.  The  Jewish  Ilio-h 
Priest  was  the  only  mediator  between  God  and  the  na- 
tion ;  he  only  could  make  atonement  for  them  by  sacrifice 
and  intercession, — in  all  which  he  w^as  preeminently  typi- 
cal of  Christ.  *  In  accordance  with  this,  our  Lord  actually 
exercised  authority  which  He  derived  from  His  baptism 
by  John,  The  reader  has  here  only  to  refer  to  His  purifi- 
cation of  the  tem23le,  immediately  following  his  triumphal 
entry  into  Jerusalem.  In  casting  out  of  the  temple  those 
wdio  defiled  it  with  worldly  and  unlawful  traffic,  and  in 
justifying  the  act  by  an  appeal  to  the  Scriptures  ("i^iy 
house  shall  be  called  a  house  of  prayer,  but  ye  have  made 
it  a  den  of  thieves,")  He  directly  assumed  authority  over 
the  temple  and  all  it  contained. 

The  baj)tism  of  Jesus  had,  moreover,  a  peculiar  sym- 
bolical relation  to  the  regeneration  of  human  nature. 
The  baptism  of  John  was  a  sign  of  moral  purification. 
Now,  as  Jesus  was  without  stain  of  sin,  either  original 
or  actual,  the  rite  could  have  no  direct  personal  signifi- 
cance ;  it  could  indicate  no  purification  in  Jesus  -,  for  He 
had  no  pollution  to  be  washed  away.  But  Jesus  entered, 
by  His  incarnation,  into  the  line  of  Adam's  posterity,  that 
He  might  regenerate  our  common  Immanity.  'He  was  the 
beffinnino;  of  a  new  creation ;  the  second  Adam  of  a  re- 
deemed  race.  As  Adam  w^as  the  head  of  the  race,  in 
respect  to  their  descent  from  Him  by  ordinary  genera- 
tion ;  so  Christ  is  the  head  of  His  people,  in  respect  to 
their  spiritual  descent  from  Him  by  regeneration.  The 
entire  work  of  redemption  may,  in  this  light,  be  properly 
called  the  regeneration.  This  regeneration  commenced  in 
the  sanctification  of  Christ's  humanity :  "  For  their  sakes 
I  sanctify  myself,  that  they  also  might  be  sanctified 
through  the  truth."!     As  therefore,  the  baptism  of  the 

*See  Hebrews  iv.  14-16,  and  chap.  v.  passim.        f  John  xvii.  19. 


126  THE    LIFE    OF    CUPJST. 

individual  believer  is  a  sign  of  his  individual  regeneration  ; 
the  baptism  of  Jesus  is  a  sign  of  the  regeneration  of  the 
race.  In  His  case,  it  was  not  so  much  the  individual  that 
was  baptized  as  humanity  itself  It  was  not  any  sin  of 
His  own  which  was  sacramentally  washed  away  by  His 
Ijaptism,  but  the  sins  of  all  His  people,  which  he  had  taken 
upon  Himself  His  baptism  was,  then,  a  striking  symbol 
of  His  whole  work  as  Redeemer. 

Aside  from  its  own  consistency,  this  view  is  amply  sus- 
tained by  analogy.  The  great  acts  of  our  Lord  were  all 
rejyresentative.  He  acted  solely  as  a  puljlic  person — as 
the  Head  of  the  Church.  Hence,  when  He  went  into  the 
wilderness  and  was  tempted,  it  was  as  the  second  Adam — 
as  the  representative  of  the  race.  Still  further.  His  death 
was  truly  vicarious, — it  was  a  sacrifice  for,  and  instead 
of,  the  whole  world.  So,  too,  in  His  death  and  resurrec- 
tion. He  was  the  Head  and  representative  of  His  people: 

"In  Illm  we  rise  ; 
In  Him  we  reign, 
And  empires  gain, 
Beyond  the  skies." 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  the  baptism  of  Jesus  was  a  repre- 
sentative act,  and  prefigurative  of  His  whole  redemptive 
work. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  TKMPTATIOX— PRELIMINARY   CONSIDERATIONS. 

PRELIMINARY  POINTS  TO  BE  CONSIDERED — JESUS,  NOW  CONSCIOUS  OF  HIS 
MESSIAHSHIP — JEWISH  MISCONCEPTION  OF  HIS  CHARACTER  AND  MIS- 
SION— DEMONIACAL  CHARACTER  AND  ORIGIN  OF  THEIR  FANATICISM — 
THE  EXISTENCE  OF  A  PERSONAL  DEVIL  MUST  BE  ASSUMED — THE  BE- 
LIEF IN  A  WORLD  OF  SPIRITUAL  EXISTENCES,  UNIVERSAL  AND  VALID — 
REVELATION  BRINGS  TO  LIGHT  THE  ORIGIN  OF  A  WORLD  OF  EVIL 
SPIRITS — THE  GRAND  OBJECT  OF  SATAN;  AND  HIS  SUCCESS  IN  SE- 
DUCING THE  HUMAN  RACE — THE  OBJECT  OF  JESUS,  TO  DESTROY  THE 
DEVIL  AND  HIS  WORKS — IN  WHAT  SENSE  IT  WAS  POSSIBLE  FOR  JESUS 
TO    BE    TEMPTED   OF    THE    DEVIL — DR.   SCHAFF'S    VIEW  OF  THE  SUBJECT. 

In  order  to  a  right  understanding  of  the  temptation, 
it  is  necessary  that  careful  attention  should  be  given  to 
certain  preliminary  points.  This  will  not  be  considered 
superfluous  by  the  reader  who  properly  estimates  the 
importance  of  the  events  related  in  the  sacred  narrative. 
The  temptation  of  Jesus  is  a  mysterious  subject;  and, 
from  the  nature  of  the  events  themselves,  as  well  as  from 
some  variations  in  the  several  accounts  given  of  them, 
its  discussion  is  attended  w^ith  grave  difficulties. 

We  can  not  doubt  that  at  his  baptism,  Jesus  became 
fully  conscious  of  his  Messiahship,  and  of  the  super- 
natural powers  inherent  in  His  person  as  the  God-man. 
He  had  been  pointed  out  by  the  Baptist  as  the  Christ; 
He  had  been  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  by  a  voice 
from  heaven;  He  had  been  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 
He  knew,  therefore,  that  the  time  had  come  for  Him  to 
enter  upon  His  great  work.      The   great  question   now 


128  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

was,  liow  He  i?hould  manifest  Himself  as  the  Messiah. 
The  Jewish  mind  was  filled  with  false  notions  of  their  ex- 
pected King.  While  they  believed  that  He  would  be 
invested  with  miraculous  power,  and  show  great  signs 
and  wonders  in  attestation  of  His  divine  mission,  they 
conceived  of  Him  as  a  secular  prince,  Avho  would  re- 
establish the  throne  of  David,  and  extend  his  dominion 
throughout  the  world.  This  perverted  idea  of  the  Mes- 
sianic kingdom, — an  idea  from  which  even  John  could 
not  quite  extricate  himself, — w^as  now  the  greatest  ob- 
stacle to  the  recognition  of  the  King  who  came  in  a 
servant-form,  to  establish  His  authority,  not  by  force  or 
worldlj'  arts,  but  by  moral  influence.  It  was  certain  from 
the  outset  that  the  nation,  as  such,  would  reject  the 
meek  Nazarene  who  utterly  discarded  all  secular  aims, 
and  declined  all  secular  alliances.  Jesus  was  about  to 
enter  into  conflict  with  the  w^orldly  spirit  which  lurked 
under  the  religious  formalism  of  the  Jewish  Church. 

That  spirit  had  been  the  growth  of  ages;  and  now, 
under  the  Roman  despotism,  it  had  reached  a  pitch  of 
patriotic  fanaticism  which  throbbed  with  feverish  in- 
tensity in  all  hearts.  Indeed,  the  whole  people  seemed 
to  be  under  a  sort  of  demoniacal  possession,  which  grew 
more  absolute  and  frenzied  down  to  the  utter  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  and  the  temple.  This  strange  language  w^ill 
not  strike  those  with  surprise  who  are  flimiliar  with  the 
history  of  that  time.  We  are  forced  to  ascribe  the  per- 
verted religious  views  and  the  terrible  fanaticism  of  the 
Jews  to  the  influence  of  Satan.  It  was  thus  he  strove 
to  thwart  the  mission  of  Christ,  the  Woman's  Seed,  who, 
it  had  been  declared,  should  bruise  the  head  of  the 
serpent. 

And  this  brings  us  to  a  question  fundamental  in  the 
present  discussion, — the  existence  and  personality  of  an 
evil  intelligence,  called  in  the  Scriptures  the  devil  and 


THE    TEMPTATION — PRELIMINARY.  129 

Satan.  On  this  hinges  our  interpretation  of  the  Lord's 
temptation,  and  in  some  degree  our  view  of  His  person. 
If  there  was  no  tempter,  we  can  account  for  the  conflict 
through  which  Jesus  undoubtedly  passed,  in  no  way  which 
will  not  give  a  rude  shock  to  our  faith  in  His  absolute 
sinlessness  and  divinity. 

This  is  a  question  which  can  not  be  settled  by  science 
however  "  positive,"  nor  by  philosophy  however  transcend- 
ental. It  is  a  question  oi  fact  which  can  only  be  solved 
by  an  appeal  to  testimony.  But  what  witness  shall  we 
summon  to  testify  concerning  persons  and  events  in  a 
sphere  quite  beyond  the  cognizance  of  the  senses? 

That  there  is  such  a  sphere,  has  been  believed  in  all 
ages;  and,  whatever  modern  rationalism  may  assert  to 
the  contrary,  is  believed  as  strenuously  in  our  highly 
civilized  nineteenth  century  as  ever.  What  nation,  an- 
cient or  modern,  has  not  held  to  the  existence  of  spiritual 
intelligences  and  their  influence  on  man?  The  beautiful 
superstition  of  ancient  Greece,  which  peojoled  the  rivers, 
fountains,  caves,  trees,  oceans,  and  heavenly  bodies  with 
divinities,  was  an  effort  of  human  nature  to  explore  that 
hidden  world  which  was  believed  to  encompass,  pervade, 
and  vivify  the  world  of  sense.  The  whole  vast  and  sombre 
mythology  of  oriental  nations  is  a  herculean  effort  in  the 
same  direction.  The  Hindoo  pantheon,  with  the  subtle, 
pantheistic  philosophy  which  is  its  key,  reveals  a  mighty 
but  fruitless  attempt  of  unassisted  reason  to  clutch  the 
secret  of  the  universe.  Go  where  you  will,  you  shall  find 
men  gazing  with  earnest,  longing  eyes  into  the  great  dark- 
ness. Thus  nature  itself  clearly  intimates  the  existence 
of  a  spiritual  world ;  but  what  it  is  and  what  are  its  rela- 
tions to  men,  revelation  only  can  disclose. 

Eevelation  lifts  the  veil.  It  gives  us  glimpses  of  a  vast 
and  wonderful  theatre,  the  actors  of  which  are  innumer- 
able spiritual  creatures,  both  good  and  evil.  It  carries  us 
9 


130  TUE    LIFE    OF    CnKIST. 

back  to  a  period  anterior  to  the  creation  of  our  world, 
and  makes  us  spectators  of  grand  and  awful  events  in  the 
world  of  spirits.  We  behold  rebellion  in  heaven.  We 
see  an  exalted  Intelligence  in  the  exercise  of  free-will  re- 
volting against  the  government  of  God,  and  drawing  after 
him  an  innumerable  host  of  inferior  spirits.  Thus  origi- 
nated the  Kingdom  of  Evil,  of  which  Satan  is  the  head 
and  chief  This  idea  of  the  person  and  nims  of  Satan,  is 
the  key  to  this  mysterious  portion  of  sacred  history. 

Those  w^ho  deny  a  personal  devil  can  not  understand 
the  temptation.  They  fall  into  manifest  absurdities  when 
they  begin  to  explain  the  particular  expressions  em- 
ployed by  the  evangelists.  What,  according  to  their 
view,  is  meant  by  the  "  devil ^"  They  answer  flippantly 
enough  the  "principle  of  evil."  And,  pray,  what  may 
that  high-sounding  phrase,  "principle  of  evil,"  signify? 
Are  we  to  understand  by  it,  a  law,  or  force,  or  impersonal 
energy,  which  operates  Uke  the  law  of  gravitation  in  the 
material  world?  That  would  be  monstrous  fatalism.  Does 
it,  then,  mean  natural  depravity;  an  innate  tendency  to 
sin?  Beware!  Will  you  charge  on  the  Holy  one  of  God 
moral  corruption?  Was  He  assailed  in  the  solitude  of 
the  desert  by  the  solicitations  of  an  evil  nature?  The 
question  ends  the  controversy. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  arch  apostate  to  extend  and 
perpetuate  moral  evil;  to  maintain  incessant  war  against 
truth,  order,  holiness,  and  God.  In  the  prosecution  of 
this  purpose,  Satan,  when  man  was  created  in  the  image 
of  God,  undertook  to  lead  him  into  transgression.  The 
first  man,  according  to  that  great  law  which  governs  the 
transmission  of  life  from  generation  to  generation,  held 
the  character  and  destiny  of  the  race  in  his  own  hands. 
When,  therefore,  by  diabolical  arts  Adam  was  seduced  to 
disobedience,  sin  became  hereditary  and  organic,  and  the 
whole   race  came  into  the  closest  union  with  the  fallen 


THE    TEMPTATION — PRELIMINARY.  131 

angels;  Satan  became  "the  god  of  this  world,  and  ruled 
in  the  hearts  of  the  children  of  disobedience."  "The 
whole  world/'  says  John,  "lietli  in  the  Wicked  One."* 
"  Ye  are  of  your  father,  the  devil,"  said  Christ  to  the 
Jews,  "and  the  lusts  of  your  father  ye  will  do."t  It  was 
the  design  of  the  original  temptation  in  Paradise  to  bring 
the  human  family  into  this  fearful  l^ondage  to  the  powers 
of  darkness.  The  consequence  of  the  fall  was,  that  men 
became  naturally  susceptible  to  diabolical  influence. 

Now  it  is  expressly  revealed  that  the  mission  of  Christ 
wfis  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil ;  and  to  redeem  the 
human  race  from  this  dreadful  thraldom.  To  this  end  He 
became  incarnate,  for  thus  only  could  He  become  the  new 
Head, — the  second  Adam, — of  the  race.  As  such  it  was 
necessary  that  He  should  be  tried ;  and  that  He  should 
overcome  where  the  first  Adam  had  been  overcome.  He 
must  be  exposed  to  all  the  malice  and  cunning  of  the 
arch-tempter ;  He  must,  even  at  the  outset  of  His  career, 
descend  into  the  arena  and  do  battle  with  princij)alities 
and  powers  and  wicked  spirits  in  high  places.  Satan 
must  come  and  fiyid  nothing  in  Him.  Such  is  the  scrip- 
tural doctrine  of  evil  spirits,  their  power  over  mankind, 
and  their  relation  to  the  mission  of  Christ.  It  is  a  doc- 
trine which  may  be  ridiculed  by  those  who  acknowledge 
no  test  of  truth  but  their  own  sensations ;  but  it  must  be 
assumed  as  true  by  all  who  would  imderstand  the  life  and 
jnission  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Passing  from  this,  another  question,  hardly  less  impor- 
tant, presents  itself:  Temptation  implies,  not  only  a 
tempter,  but  a  certain  susceptibility  to  temptation, — call 
it,  if  you  will,  temj^tability, — in  the  person  assailed.  Now, 
we  have  affirmed  the  absolute  sinlessness  of  Christ.  How 
then  could  He  be  tempted  of  evil  ?     He  was  indeed  free 


*Sec  the  Greek  ;  also  the  preceding  context;  I.  John  v.  18.     t  John  viii.  44. 


132  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

from  all  taint  of  moral  depravity ;  but  He  took  our  nature 
with  its  hifinnities,  natural  j^eccahillti/  included.  His  hu- 
man will  was  mutable ;  and  He  had  all  the  appetites,  the 
desires,  the  susceptibility  to  pleasure  and  pain,  which  are 
inseparable  from  human  nature.  While,  then,  there  is  a 
sense  in  which,  being  God-man,  it  was  impossible  for  Him 
to  sin,  it  remains  true,  that,  in  His  human  nature,  He  was 
necessarily  open  to  assault,  not  only  in  the  wilderness,  but 
during  His  whole  course,  even  until  He  cried  on  the 
cross,  "It  is  finished,"  and  gave  up  the  ghost.  This  is 
not  inconsistent  with  His  sinlessness.  Adam,  previous  to 
the  foil,  had  no  corrupt  propensities  ;  yet  he  was  tempted, 
to  his  cost  and  ours.  We  must  be  careful,  however,  to 
hold  the  balance  of  faith  steady  and  even.  If,  on  the  one 
hand,  we  exalt  the  Son  of  God  above  the  possibility  of 
temptation,  we  lose  our  consoling  faith  in  His  sympathy 
with  His  tempted  brethren ;  and  if.  on  the  other,  we 
ascribe  to  Him  the  least  inclination  to  evil,  we  destroy  our 
own  confidence  in  Him  as  a  Divine  Redeemer.  The  sub- 
ject is  placed  in  a  clear  light  in  the  following  luminous 
paragraph,  from  a  learned  and  thoughtful  writer : — 

"  The  sinlessness  of  Christ  was  at  first  only  the  relative 
sinlessness  of  Adam  before  the  fall ;  which  implies  the 
necessity  of  trial  and  temptation,  and  peccability,  or  the 
possibility  of  the  fall.  Had  He  been  endowed  with  abso- 
lute impeccability  from  the  start,  He  would  not  have 
been  a  true  man,  nor  our  model  for  imitation ;  His  holi- 
ness, instead  of  being  His  own  self-acquired  act  and  in- 
herent merit,  would  have  been  an  accidental  or  outward 
gift,  and  His  temptation  an  unreal  show.  As  true  man, 
Christ  must  have  been  a  free  and  responsible  agent ;  free- 
dom implies  the  power  of  choice  between  good  and  evil, 
the  power  to  violate,  as  well  as  to  fulfill,  the  law  of  God. 
But  here  is  the  fundamental  difference  between  the  first 
and  the  second  Adam :  the  first  Adam  lost  his  innocence 


THE    TEMPTATION PRELIMINARY.  133 

by  the  abuse  of  his  freedom,  and  fell  by  his  own  act  into 
the  dire  necessity  of  sin ;  while  the  second  Adam  was 
innocent  in  the  midst  of  sin,  and  maintained  His  inno- 
cence against  every  temptation.  Christ's  7'elaiive  sinless- 
ness  became  more  and  more  absolute  sinlessness  by  His 
own  moral  act,  or  the  right  use  of  His  freedom  in  active 
and  passive  obedience  to  God.  In  other  words,  Christ's 
original  possibirdy  of  not  sinning  w^hich  includes  the  op- 
posite possibility  of  sinning,  but  excludes  the  actuality  of 
sin,  was  unfolded  into  the  impossibility  of  sinning,  which 
can  not  sin  because  it  will  not.  This  is  the  highest  stage 
of  freedom,  where  it  becomes  identical  with  moral  neces- 
sity, or  absolute  and  unchangeable  self-determination  to 
goodness  and  holiness."* 

*Dr.  Schaff's  "Person  of  Christ,"  pages  51-52 


CHAPTER    lY. 
THE    TEMPTATION. 

SCENE  OF  THE  TEMPTATION — IMMEDIATE  OCCASION  OF  JESUS'  GOING  INTO 
THK  "WILDERNESS — THE  FIRST  TEMPTATION — ITS  GENERAL  AIM — ITS 
APPEAL  TO  THE  CONSCIOUSNESS  OF  SPECIAL  POWER — JESUS  CHALLENGED 
TO  PROVE  HIS  POWER — SPECIAL  ADVANTAGE  TAKEN  OF  HIS  EXTREME 
HUNGER — AVHY  JESUS  MIGHT  NOT  WORK  THE  PROPOSED  MIRACLE — 
HIS  METHOD  OF  REPULSING  HIS  ADVERSARY — SUBSTANCE  OF  THE 
ANSWER  OF  JESUS — THE  SECOND  TEMPTATION — REAL  NATURE  OF  THE 
ACT  PERFORMED — THE  VIEW  PRESENTED  TO  JESUS  FROM  THE  PINNA- 
CLE OF  THE  TEMPLE — FORCE  OF  THE  DEVIL's  SUGGESTION — OUR  LORD's 
ANSWER — THE  THIRD  TEMPTATION — NATURE  OF  THE  ACT  PERFORMED, 
AND  THE  PROSPECT  PRESENTED  TO  JESUS — SATAN'S  OFFER — THE  TRI- 
UMPHANT REPLY  OF  JESUS  —  END  OF  THE  TEMPTATION — PRACTICAL 
REFLECTIONS. 

Westward  of  the  Jordan,  where  Jesus  was  baptized, 
stretches  a  "  wilderness/'  gloomy  and  sterile,  to  the  foot 
of  a  mountain  which  rises  almost  perpendicularly  to  a 
height  of  some  fifteen  hundred  feet.  This  mountain, 
called  Quarantania,  is  full  of  caverns,  many  of  them  arti- 
ficial, which  were  once  inhabited  b}^  a  multitude  of  her- 
mits, drawn  to  the  place  by  the  tradition  that  there  our 
Lord  passed  the  forty  days  which  preceded  his  temptation. 
The  tradition  can  not  be  traced  to  the  earliest  times,  but 
its  truth  may  be  accepted  as  highly  probable.  The  region 
answers  well  the  requirements  of  the  inspired  history. 
It  is  a  lonely  desert,  inhabited  by  wild  beasts,  and  some- 
times infested  by  robbers. 

Immediately  after  His  baptism  Jesus  was  constrained 
by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  go  alone  into  this  gloomy  desert, 
to  engage  in  fasting,  meditation   and    prayer.      We  can 


THE    TEMPTATION PRELIMINARY.  135 

not  suppose  that  this  was  for  any  ascetic  or  peniten- 
tial purpose ;  for  He  was  absolutely  free  from  sin,  and 
Hia  body  did  not  need  chastisement  and  mortification. 
Neither  can  we  believe  that,  soon  after  his  baptism,  as 
some  imagine,  a  horror  of  great  darkness  fell  upon  His 
sinless  soul,  and  obscured  the  consciousness  of  His  Divine 
Sonship.  On  the  contrary,  we  rather  hold  that  He  wan- 
dered into  the  desert,  lost,  as  it  Avere,  in  divine  musings, 
and  in  communion  with  the  Father.  We  may,  also,  rev- 
erently conjecture  that,  looking  forward  to  His  future 
work,  He  was  forecasting  his  labors,  and  settling  the  plan 
of  His  Messianic  ministry.  Meanwhile,  immersed  in  holy 
meditation,  and  sustained  by  the  vivifying  energy  of  the 
Godhead  which  dwelt  in  His  person.  He  continued  forty 
days  without  thought  of  bodily  nourishment. 

At  length,  aroused  from  this  divine  trance,  He  felt  the 
pain  of  hunger.  It  was  at  this  critical  moment  that  the 
tempter  first  approached  Plim,  not,  it  may  be  presumed, 
in  a  visible,  bodily  form,  but  by  a  suggestion  which  Jesus  at 
once  recognized  as  from  a  spiritual  intelligence.  Doubt- 
less, too.  He  saw  the  adversary,  as  spirits  see  each  other ; 
for  among  His  supernatural  powers,  the  vision  which  pene- 
trates the  spiritual  world  was  not  wanting.*  However 
this  may  be,  the  tempter,  having,  perhaps,  heard  the 
Divine  Voice  at  Bethabara,  suspects,  without  positivel}^ 
knowing,  that  this  is  the  Son  of  God.  Bent  on  testing 
His  character  and  power,  he  approaches,  and  partly  in  the 
way  of  challenge,  partly  as  intimating  doubt,  and  partly 
in  the  tone  of  kind  suggestion,  says  to  Jesus :  "  If  Thou 
be  the  Son  of  God,  command  that  these  stones  be  made 
bread."  f 

How  much  of  diabolical  cunning  was  wrapt  up  in  those 
words !     Satan  well  knew  the  power  of  hunger  over  man- 

*Luke  X.  18.  tLuke  iv.  3. 


136  THE    LIFE    OF    CHPJST. 

kind.  He  had  seen  men  rob  and  murder  to  procure  food  ; 
he  had  even  seen  delicate  women,  in  time  of  famine,  slay 
and  eat  their  own  children,  lie  knew,  too,  the  extremity 
of  the  Saviour's  suffering.  His  language  was,  then,  in 
effect  thus :  "  Thou  hast  been  declared  to  be  the  Son  of 
God.  Thou  art  then  endowed  with  supernatural  powers, 
yet  art  Thou  famishing  in  this  desert.  Why  endure  this 
longer  ?  Exert  Thy  divine  power,  and  change  this  stone 
into  bread.  Thou  canst  easily  do  it;  and  the  occasion 
justifies  and  demands  it." 

The  aim  of  the  tempter  w\as  to  induce  Jesus  to  put  His 
Sonship  to  the  proof  by  working  a  miracle,  in  the  desert, 
to  satisfy  His  hunger.  The  force  of  the  temptation  lay, 
first,  in  the  very  consciousness  of  special  power  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  had  come  to  our  Lord  at  the  time  of  His 
baptism; — the  consciousness  of  a  power  wdiich  He  had 
never  yet  exerted,  but  for  the  exertion  of  which  there 
now  seemed  to  be  an  urgent  occasion.  Was  He  not  hun- 
gry ?  Had  He  not  been  fasting  for  forty  days  ?  Might 
He  not  perish  of  starvation  in  that  barren  solitude  ?  God 
did  not  rain  manna  upon  Him,  as  He  had  done  upon  the 
fathers  in  the  desert ;  might  He  not  have  left  Him  to  pro- 
vide for  Himself  by  a  miracle  ?  Having  the  power  to  do 
this,  why,  under  the  circumstances,  should  He  hesitate  ? 

The  possession  of  special  power  is  itself  a  temptation. 
"By  it,"  in  the  words  of  another,  "the  virtuous  man  is 
removed  from  ordinary  rules;  from  the  safe  course  which 
has  been  marked  by  the  footsteps  of  countless  good  men 
before  him,  and  has  to  make  as  it  were,  a  new  morality 
for  himself  In  different  circumstances,  few  men  can 
long  wield  extraordinary  power  without  positively  com- 
mitting crimes.  But  here  we  see  the  good  .man  placed 
in  a  position  entirely  strange,  deprived  of  the  stay  of 
all  precedent  or  exuinple,  gifted  with  power  not  only  ex- 
traordinary, but  supernatural  and  unlimited,  and  thrown 


THE    TEMPTATION PEELIMINARY.  137 

for  his  morality  entirely  upon  the  instinct  of  virtue 
within  Him."* 

Add  to  this  the  imjoortant  consideration  that  Jesus  had 
never  yet  wrought  a  miracle,  and  that  He  was  here  a\id 
now  challenged  to  demonstrate  His  power  to  do  so,  and 
for  what  seemed  to  be  a  laudable  purpose.  What  would 
have  been  the  sin  of  yielding  to  the  suggestion?  Why 
not  as  well  here  as  elsewhere  evince  His  power  for  the 
first  time?  Still  further:  the  temptation  was  rendered 
peculiarly  powerful  by  the  hunger  which  our  Lord  must 
have  experienced  after  so  protracted  a  fast.  That  it  was 
most  intense  and  painful  is  beyond  doubt.  The  tempter 
evidently  so  understood  it,  and  knowing  the  strength  of 
appetite  in  the  famishing,  counted  the  more  certainly 
upon  success. 

Now,  looking  at  these  considerations,  the  question  arises, 
Why  might  not  Jesus  have  yielded  to  the  suggestion  of 
His  adversary?  Where  would  have  been  the  sin?  The 
question  is  legitimate  and  must  be  answered.  Jesus  con- 
sidered miraculous  powers  as  a  trust  committed  to  Him 
for  the  kingdom  of  God  alone.  They  were  powers  to  be 
employed,  not  for  the  gratification  of  His  own  appetite 
or  will,  not  for  any  personal  or  selfish  end,  but  only  for 
the  good  of  others,  and  for  the  furthering  of  His  Messianic 
and  redemptive  work.  Had  He  wrought  a  miracle  at  the 
suggestion  of  Satan,  for  a  private  end,  how  would  He  have 
differed  from  false  prophets  and  magicians? 

Let  us  now  see  how  He  meets  and  vanquishes  the  temp- 
ter in  this  his  first  attack.  He  enters  into  no  argument; 
there  is,  in  His  mind,  no  lawless  inclination  to  reason  down. 
His  will  is  in  a  state  of  perpetual  sacrifice ;  and  He  simply 
cites  the  revealed  will  of  God,  saying:  "It  is  written,"  as 
an  answer  to  the  unholy  suggestion.     Let  it  be  noted  that 


*Ecce  Homo. 


138  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

His  weapon  tlirougliout  this  conflict  is  the  Word  of  God, — - 
that  sword  of  the  Spirit  which  no  defensive  armor  of  hell 
can  withstand. 

The  passage  quoted  on  this  occasion  was  singularly- 
pertinent  and  powerful.  This  appears  the  more  strikingly 
when  it  is  read  in  its  connection  as  it  stands  in  Deuteron- 
omy viii.  2,  3:  "Thou  shalt  remember  all  the  way  in 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  led  thee  these  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness,  to  humble  thee,  and  to  prove  thee,  to  know 
what  was  in  thine  heart,  whether  thou  wouldest  keep 
His  commandments  or  no.  And  He  humbled  thee,  and 
suffered  thee  to  hunger,  and  fed  thee  with  manna  which 
thou  knewest  not,  neither  did  thy  fathers  know ;  that  He 
might  make  thee  know  that  man  doth  not  live  hy  bread 
only,  hut  hy  every  word  that  2>'>''oceedeth  out  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Lord  doth  man  live."  The  word  of  the  Lord,  His 
creative  word,  had  provided  the  manna  instead  of  ordi- 
nary food,  and  it  had  sustained  life  as  well  or  better.  The 
same  creative  word  can  support  human  life  by  any  means 
which  it  may  appoint. 

In  this  quotation  Jesus  declares  His  unshaken  confi- 
dence in  His  Father's  love  and  power,  and  His  absolute 
submission  to  His  will.  "  Far  be  it  from  me,"  is  the  sub- 
stance of  His  reply,  "  to  prescribe  to  God  the  mode  in 
which  He  shall  provide  me  sustenance.  Eather  will  I 
trust  His  creative  power,  which  can  find  means  to  satisfy 
my  hunger  even  in  the  desert,  though  it  may  not  be  with 
man's  usual  food.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  pervert  the 
miraculous  powers  which  He  has  given  me,  to  any  other 
than  the  holy  uses  for  which  He  designed  them.  Rather 
will  I  wait  His  time,  and  trust  His  wisdom  for  the  fitting 
moment  to  prove  that  'AH  power  is  given  unto  me  in 
heaven  and  in  ej^rth.* "  *     Wonderful  self-denial !     Gall  it 

♦Matthew  xxviii.  18. 


THE    TEMPTATION PRELIMINARY.  L39 

rather  divine  !  "  He  will  not  help  Himself  from  res^oiirces 
which  he  conceives  placed  in  His  hands  in  trust  for  the 
good  of  others.  He  prefers  rather  to  suffer."  *  Such  was 
the  victory  of  Jesus  over  the  tempter  in  his  first  assault. 

The  record  of  the  second  temptation  is  as  follows : 
"  Then  the  devil  taketh  Him  up  into  the  Holy  City  and 
setteth  Him  on  Pj  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  and  saith  unto 
Him :  If  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  cast  Thyself  down ; 
for  it  is  written,  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  con- 
cerning Thee ;  and  in  their  hands  they  shall  bear  Thee 
up,  lest  at  any  thne  Thou  dash  Thy  foot  against  a  stone."  t 

Let  us  here  again  exclude  the  fancy  that  there  was 
any  bodily  appearance  of  the  adversary,  or  that  he  trans- 
ported the  Saviour  through  the  air,  from  the  desert  to 
Jerusalem.  The  words  of  the  evangelist  imply  nothing 
of  the  kind.  The  meaning  is,  simply,  that  Satan  con- 
ducted Him  into  the  Holy  City ;  that  is  to  say,  by  a  pow- 
erful impulse  to  which  Jesus  voluntarily  yielded.  A  few 
hours'  walk  would  enable  Him  to  reach  the  city,  and  to 
ascend  that  lofty  wing  of  the  temple  which  overhung  the 
valley  of  Jehoshaphat.  Josephus  declares  that  no  man 
could  stand  on  that  pinnacle,  without  being  dizzy ;  and 
that  its  height  was  so  great  that  a  man  could  not  see  the 
bottom  of  the  valley  beneath. 

That  Jesus  really  stood  on  that  lofty  wall,  we  cannot 
doubt ;  otherwise,  the  temptation  has  no  meaning.  We 
must  presume,  also,  that  He  stood  there  in  the  day-time, 
and  in  public  view;  though,  of  course,  the  attention  of 
the  multitude  passing  in  the  streets  and  valley  below  was 
not  particularly  drawn  to  Him.  It  is  probable  that  the 
pinnacle  on  which  Jesus  stood  was  much  frequented  by 
those  who  desired  to  view  the  Holy  City  and  the  region 
around,  resembling  in  this  respect  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's 

♦Neander's  "Life  of  Christ,"  page  71.  fMattlicw  iv.  5,  6. 


140  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

in  London,  or  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome.  He  stands  there, 
as  any  other  stranger  might  stand.  He  sees  the  people 
below,  moving  hither  and  thither  like  pigmies.  He  sees 
the  buildings  of  the  temple  glittering  in  the  sunlight. 
The  courts  are  thronged  with  worshipers.  The  fire  is 
blazing  on  the  high  altar.  The  priests  are  passing  to  and 
fro  in  their  ministrations. 

As  Jesus  stands  here,  the  tempter  again  appeals  to  His 
consciousness  of  supernatural  power,  with  the  design  of 
seducing  Him  to  exert  that  power  for  a  purpose  incom- 
patible with  the  end  of  His  mission;  and,  perhaj^s,  to  create 
a  doubt  in  Plis  mind,  by  the  reiteration  of  the  former 
challenge.  He  whispers  "  Cast  Thyself  down :  no  evil 
can  come  of  it;  God  has  promised  that  His  angels  shall 
bear  Thee  up  in  their  hands.  Test  Thy  Sonship  here  and 
now,  in  the  presence  of  priests  and  people.  Show  by  a 
great  sign,  that  Thou  art  the  Christ.  An  opportunity  is 
offered  Thee,  to  demonstrate  to  Thyself  and  the  nation 
that  Thou  art  the  Messiah.  Descend  on  angel's  wings,  to 
the  valley  at  the  foot  of  this  precipice,  or  into  the  courts 
of  the  temple ;  and  Thy  claims  will  be  at  once  established. 
Thou  wilt  be  installed  at  the  head  of  the  nation  and  of 
the  hierarchy,  as  their  Priest-King,  By  a  single  act.  Thy 
work  will  be  accomplished." 

Our  Lord  meets  this  attack  of  the  tempter  with  another 
stroke  of  that  glittering  sword,  of  which  Satan  had  pre- 
viously felt  the  edge.  It  is  written  again;  "Thou  shalt 
not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God."  *  This  is  equivalent  to  say- 
ing, that  to  work  a  miracle  merely  to  display  supernatural 
power;  especially  to  cast  one's  self  into  danger  which 
might  be  avoided,  merely  to  test  divine  faithfulness  and 
love,  would  be  tempting  God.  Christ's  faith  in  God  and  in 
Himself  and  His  purpose  not  to  employ  miraculous  power 


*  Matthew  iv.  7;  Deuteronomy  vi.  IG. 


THE    TEMPTATION PllELlMINARY.  141 

in  an  ostentatious,  magical  manner,  to  gratify  the  Jewish 
appetite  for  marvels,  does  not  once  falter.  Not  by  appeal- 
ing to  siqjersiiiious  wonder  will  He  enter  on  His  public 
work,  nor  will  He  do  it  rashly  and  prematurely :  He  will 
calmly  wait  for  an  intimation  of  the  Father's  Avill. 

And  now  comes  the  third  and  last  encoimter.  "Af'-ain 
the  devil  taketh  Him  up  into  an  exceeding  high  moun- 
tain, and  showeth  Him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world, 
and  the  glory  of  them,  and  saith  unto  Him:  All  these 
things  will  I  give  unto  Thee,  if  Thou  wilt  fall  down  and 
worship  me."  *  Satan  still  continues  invisible,  or  is  visible 
only  to  our  Lord's  inner  eye.  He  leads  Him  ujd  into  a 
lofty  mountain ;  and,  as  He  there  gazes  on  the  wide  pros- 
pect, the  horizon  seems  to  retreat;  distant  seas,  shores, 
countries,  cities,  rise  to  His  view,  till  the  whole  world  lies 
before  Him  as  a  map.  The  mighty  kingdoms  of  the  East, 
— Parthia,  India,  China;  the  countries  of  the  South, — 
Arabia,  Egypt,  Ethiopia;  the  great  empire  of  the  West, 
including  Greece,  Italy,  Gaul,  Germany,  Spain,  Britain, — 
all  are  presented  to  his  eye  "in  a  moment  of  time," — an 
expression  which  plainly  intimates  the  preternatural  char- 
acter of  the  vision. 

All  these  kingdoms ;  that  is  to  say,  the  empire  of  the 
world,  Satan  offered  to  Jesus.  The  empire  thus  offered 
was  not  only  world-wide,  but  of  a  worldly  nature, — an  em- 
pire to  be  won  by  satanic  agency,  and  maintained  by 
Satanic  arts.  He  solicits  the  Saviour  to  set  up  such  a 
kingdom  as  the  Jews  were  longing  for;  and  he  offered 
his  aid  in  establishing  it.  Thus  was  Jesus  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  spirit  of  the  age, — with  its  selfishness,  its  cor- 
rupt principles,  its  unholy  arts,  its  satanic  tendencies,  its 
pomp  and  luxury,  its  pride  and  oppression, — in  a  word,  its 
deml-worship  ;  for  Satan  was  right, — such  an  empire  as  he 

*  Matthew  iv.  8,  9. 


142  THE    LIFE    OF    CnillST. 

offered  could  only  be  won  by  liis  aid.  Neither  can  we 
doubt  that  he  was  perfectly  sincere  in  his  offer.  There 
■jvas  no  man  whom  he  would  so  willingly  have  made  em- 
peror of  the  world  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth;  for  that  would 
have  involved  the  apostasy  of  the  Messiah,  and  the  de- 
struction of  the  hopes  of  mankind.  Satan  would  have 
been  more  than  ever  the  "  god  of  this  world." 

But,  blessed  be  God !  our  Captain  in  this  conflict  proved 
stronger  than  the  "strong  man  armed."  Listen!  "Then 
said  Jesus  unto  him:  Get  thee  hence,  Satan;  for  it  is 
writen:  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  Him 
only  shalt  thou  serve."*  Thus  our  Lord  resisted  the 
temptation  to  found  a  secular  monarchy,  by  declaring 
that  God  was  the  only  object  of  worship.  The  one  truQ 
God, — holy,  just,  ever-living, — was  proclaimed  the  sole 
King  and  Lord  whose  will  was  to  be  done  on  earth  and 
in  heaven. 

Thus  ended  the  temptation.  Satan,  baffled  and  con- 
founded, withdrew.  A  Man  had  at  length  foiled  his  hell- 
ish arts  and  overcome  him  in  open  fight.  As  he  left  the 
Saviour,  angels  came  and  ministered  unto  Him.  The 
words  which  our  great  poet  has  put  into  their  mouth, 
might  have  been  fitly  sung  by  them: 

"  Hail,  Son  of  the  Most  High  !     Heir  of  both  worlds ! 
Queller  of  Satan !  on  Thy  glorious  work 
Now  enter ;  and  begin  to  save  mankind." 

The  history  of  this  conflict  between  our  Lord  and  the 
prince  of  darkness  is  highly  suggestive.  It  reveals  the 
fact  that  there  is  a  kingdom  of  evil  which  dominates  over 
our  human  world.  Men  have  been  ensnared,  conquered 
and  led  captive  by  Satan.  They  are  continually  exposed 
to  the  influence  of  evil  spirits;  and  our  corrupt  nature 


Matthew  iy.  10  ;  Deuteronomy  x.  20. 


THE    TEMPTATION PRELIMINARY.  143 

constantly  invites  and  reinforces  their  assaults.  The  nar- 
rative also  suggests  their  peculiar  avenues  of  approach, — 
appetite,  pride,  and  love  of  power.  To  temptations  in 
these  directions  we  are  constantly  exposed.  It  shows, 
also,  that  Jesus  went  to  that  battle,  as  the  Representative 
Man,  the  Elder  Brother,  and,  therefore,  the  Defender, 
Champion,  and  only  Hope  of  the  human  family. 


PART    IV. 


The  Early  Ministry  of  Jesus, 


CHAPTER    I. 

JESUS  AT  BETHABARA. 

GENERA.L  METHOD  TO  BE  PURSUED — JOHN  CONTINUES  HIS  LABORS — THE 
SANHEDRIM  RESOLVE  TO  QUESTION  HIM — JESUS  GOES  TO  BETHA- 
BARA— MESSENGERS  OF  THE  SANHEDRIM  QUESTION  JOHN — JESUS  PRES- 
ENT AND  RECOGNIZED  BY  JOHN — JOHN  EXPLICITLY  ANNOUNCES  JESUS  AS 
THE  MESSIAH — ANALYSIS  OF  JOHN'S  LANGUAGE — JOHN'S  CHARACTER 
AS  THUS  EVINCED — JOHN  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES  ANDREW  AND  JOHN — 
CONFERENCE  OF  JESUS  WITH  ANDREW  AND  JOHN — INTERVIEW  OF 
JfiSUS  WITH  SIMON — JESUS  MEETS  PHILIP — JESUS  AND  NATHANAEL — 
QUIETNESS  AND  PRIVACY  OF  JESUS'  FIRST  LABORS  AND  THE  HUMBLE 
CHARACTER  OF  HIS  AGENCIES — CHARACTER  OF  GOD'S  MODE  OF  WORK- 
ING— HARMONY  OF  THE  COURSE  OF  JESUS  WITH  THE  DIVINE  METHOD, 
A   PROOF    OF    HIS    DIVINITY. 

In  the  preceding  portions  of  the  work,  each  chapter 
has  had  a  certain  unity  of  its  own;  it  has  embraced  a 
distinct  topic  which  admitted  a  certain  logical  compactr 
ness  in  its  treatment.  For  obvious  reasons  this  "will  be 
hereafter  impracticable.  We  enter,  now,  upon  the  simple 
narrative  of  the  life,  labors,  and  death  of  Jesus.  The 
order  pursued  must,  of  course,  be  mainly  chronological, 
and  the  method  adopted  must  be  chiefly  that  of  a  run- 
ning commentary  upon  the  narrative.  The  object  will  be 
to  present  Jesus  living,  acting,  teaching,  suffering,  dying, 
rising,  and  ascending  to  heaven,  in  such  graphic  and  for- 
cible terms  as  will  impress  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader  a 
clearer,  fuller,  lovelier,  image  of  the  Incarnate  Son  of  God, 
who  dwelt  among  us  full  of  grace  and  truth. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  immediately  after  His  bap- 
tism, Jesus  disappeared,  leaving  John  entirely  ignorant 


148  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIIUST. 

of  His  plans  or  movements.  The  latter,  having  as  yet 
received  no  new  revelation  as  to  his  ministry',  continued 
preaching,  and  was  at  the  time  at  which  our  narrative 
opens,  at  Bethabara,  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Jordan. 
He  appears  to  have  been  thus  far  unmolested.  The  great 
council  of  the  Jewish  Church,  called  the  Sanhedrim, 
had  permitted  him  to  preach  and  baptize  without  inter- 
ference or  even  inquiry.  Doubtless  many  of  its  members 
shared  m  the  popular  enthusiasm,  and  cherished  the  hope 
that  the  coming  of  their  King  and  their  national  emanci: 
pation  was  at  hand.  When,  however,  the  suspicion  began 
to  prevail  that  John  himself  was  the  Messiah,  the  council 
determined  to  inquire  into  the  nature  of  his  mission,  and 
his  warrant  for  baptizing.  In  pursuance  of  this  purpose, 
they  selected  messengers  from  among  the  priests  and 
Levites  belonging  to  the  sect  of  the  Pharisees,  and  sent 
them  to  Bethabara  to  question  John. 

Jesus  had,  in  the  meantime,  sought  the  same  place, 
partly  because  the  Baptist  was  there  to  render  a  public 
testimony  to  His  Messiahshii^,  and  partly  because  there 
were  among  the  multitude  of  John's  disciples,  a  few  to 
whom  He  wished  to  manifest  Himself  He  had,  therefore, 
taken  temporary  lodgings  at  Bethabara,  and  Avas  now 
quietly  waiting  the  proper  opportunity  to  enter  upon  His 
work.  Whether  or  not  He  had  any  interviews  with  John, 
during  those  few  days,  we  are  not  informed.  That  John 
was  aware  of  His  presence  among  the  multitude,  is  quite 
evident,  although  to  all  others  He  appears  to  have  been 
wholly  unknown. 

Coming  at  length  to  Bethabara,  the  messengers  of  the 
Sanhedrim  approached  John,  and  accosted  him  with  the 
question :  "  Who  art  thou  ?  "  *  The  question  was  abrupt, 
and  was  probably  put  with  an  air  of  authority.     The  an- 

*  John  i.  19. 


JESUS    AT    BETHABARA.  149 

swer  was  correspondingly  curt  and  explicit:  "1  am  not 
the  Christ."*  "What  then;  art  thou  Elijah?"!  This  ques- 
tion evidently  referred  to  the  prediction  by  Malachi,  that 
Elijah  would  be  the  forerunner  of  the  Messiah.  $  As  he 
was  not  Elijah,  in  their  literal  and  carnal  understanding 
of  the  prophecy,  John  replied  :  "  I  am  not."§  "Art  thou, 
then,  that  prophet?" — that  is,  the  prophet  spoken  of  by 
Moses. II  "No!"  "Who  art  thou?  that  we  may  give  an 
answer  to  them  that  sent  us.  What  sayest  thou  of  thy- 
self?"^ To  this  question  John  returned  a  very  general 
and  cautious  answer ;  for  he  seems  to  have  had  no  con- 
fidence in  his  interrogators.  "  I  am  the  voice  of  one  cry- 
ing in  the  wilderness  :  Make  straight  the  way  of  the  Lord, 
as  saith  the  prophet  Isaiah."**  This  vague  reply  by  no 
means  satisfied  the  messengers ;  for  they  immediately  re- 
joined :  "  Why  baptizest  thou,  then,  if  thou  be  not  that 
Christ,  nor  Elijah,  neither  that  prophet  ?  "  ft  This  was  as  if 
they  had  said:  "No  one  can  baptize  without  divine  author- 
ity. If  you  are  neither  of  these  divinely  authorized  mes- 
sengers, what  are  your  credentials  ?  what  right  have  you 
to  baptize?"  John  at  once  replies:  "I  baptize  with  water; 
but  there  standeth  one  among  you  whom  ye  know  not. 
He  it  is,  who,  coming  after  me,  is  preferred  before  me,  whose 
shoe's  latchet  I  am  not  worthy  to  unloose."  ||  The  purport 
of  this  reply  was:  "My  baptism  is  merely  figurative  of  a 
mightier,  even  a  spiritual  baptism,  which  shall  be  given 
by  Him  who  cometh  after  me  ;  and  of  whom  I  testify  that 
He  has  already  come ;  that  He  is  standing  even  now  among 
you,  though  unrecognized  by  any  but  myself  He  is  so 
pure,  so  holy,  so  exalted,  that  I  feel  unworthy  to  perform 
the  lowliest  offices  about  His  person, — I  am  not  worthy 
to  unloose  even  the  latchet  of  His  shoe." 

*  John  1.  20.  t  John  i.  21.  $  Malachi  iv.  5.         §  John  i,  21. 

II  Deut.  xviii.  15.      IT  John  i.  22.       **  John  i.  23  ;  Isaiah  xl.  3. 
tt  John  i.  25.       II  John  i.  26,  27. 


150  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

It  is  evident  from  these  words  that  Jesus  was  present 
at  this  interview  between  John  and  the  messengers ;  and 
that,  though  the  multitude  knew  him  not,  the  Baptist 
knew  Him,  and  inwardly  loved  and  adored  Him.  He  did 
not  point  Him  out  publicly ;  but  he  testified  to  His  actual 
presence,  and  His  divine  purity  and  power.  And  this  tes- 
timony, how  touching  and  beautiful  was  it !  How  full  of 
humility,  of  self-renunciation,  of  love,  of  faith !  It  was 
remembered  and  afterwards  cited  to  by  our  Lord  Him- 
self, in  proof  of  His  divine  mission :  "  There  is  another 
that  beareth  witness  of  Me,  and  I  know  that  the  witness 
which  he  witnesseth  of  Me  is  true.  Ye  sent  unto  John, 
and  he  bare  witness  unto  the  truth."* 

The  messengers  of  the  Sanhedrim  having  returned  to 
Jerusalem,  John,  on  the  following  day,  took  occasion  to 
bear  a  still  more  explicit  testimony  to  the  character  and 
mission  of  Jesus.  Seeing  Jesus  coming  to  him,  he  said : 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world  !  This  is  He  of  whom  I  said  :  After  me  cometh 
a  man  which  is  preferred  before  me ;  for  He  was  before 
me.  And  I  knew  Him  not ;  but  that  He  should  be  made 
manifest  to  Israel,  therefore  am  I  come  baptizing  with 
water,  I  saw  the  Spirit  descending  from  heaven  like  a 
dove,  and  it  abode  upon  Him.  And  I  knew  Him  not ; 
but  He  that  sent  me  to  baptize  with  water,  said  unto  me : 
Upon  whom  thou  shalt  see  the  Spirit  descending  and  re- 
maining on  Him,  the  same  is  He  which  baptizeth  with  the 
Holy  Ghost.  And  I  saw  and  bare  record  that  this  is  the 
Son  of  God."t 

These  words  of  John  are  so  full  of  meaning  that  they 
call  for  particular  consideration.  His  opening  exclama- 
tion  was  prompted  in  part,  by  the  personal  appearance  of 
Jesus,  and  in  part  by  a  prophetic  insight  into  His  character 

*  Jolm  V.  3l>,  33.  t  John  v.  29-34. 


JESUS    AT    BETHABARA.  151 

• 

and  mission.  There  was  stamped  upon  His  features,  and 
expressed  in  every  motion,  that  cahiiness,  gentleness, 
lowliness  and  purity,  which,  when  the  Baptist  saw  Him 
approaching,  naturally  led  him  to  exclahn,  "Behold  the 
Lamb  of  God."  The  figure  was  both  apt  and  striking. 
His  appearance  was  lamblike.  But,  it  was  prophetic  illu- 
mination which  led  John  to  add  that  expressive  clause : 
"  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  "  Here,"  says 
John,  "  is  the  spotless  victim  whose  blood  shall  expiate 
human  guilt;  here  is  the  tnie  sacrifice;  the  true  atone- 
ment" He  then  announces  the  dignity  of  Christ's  person. 
He  "  is  a  man  who  is  preferred  before  me ;  for  He  was 
before  me," — language  Avhich  finds  its  key  only  in  the 
divinity  of  Jesus.  John,  without  doubt,  intends  to  affirm 
our  Lord's  preexistence  as  a  divine  person.  From  the 
study  of  the  Old  Testament  prophecies,  as  well  as  from 
immediate  inspiration,  he  had  learned  that  Jesus  was  not 
a  mere  man  ;  that,  while  He  was  born  of  a  w^oman,  in 
time,  His  goings  forth  were  from  eternity ; — that,  while 
He  was  the  Son  of  Man,  He  was  also  the  Son  of  God; 
for  such  he  styles  Him:  "This  is  the  Son  of  God." 
"Nor,"  adds  John,  "is  this  a  mere  natural  impression, 
made  on  my  mind  by  long  and  familiar  personal  ac- 
quaintance. I  knew  Him  not,  but  recognized  Him  by 
a  sign  from  heaven,  given  me  when  He  came  to  be  bap- 
tized. I  saw  the  heavens  opened  and  the  spirit  descend- 
ing in  the  shape  of  a  dove  and  remaining  on  Him,  and  I 
knew  then  that  He  was  the  long  expected  Messiah." 
Thus  the  testimony  of  John  to  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus 
carries  all  the  force  and  authority  of  prophetic  insight. 

We  can  not  do  justice  to  the  character  of  John  the 
Baptist,  without  noticing  the  noble,  unselfish  spirit  which 
he  evinces  throughout  these  transactions.  Exalted  in  his 
prophetic  mission,  gifted  with  extraordinary  powers,  and 
attended  with  astonishing  popularity,  he  looks  upon  the 


152  THE   LIFE    OF    CIIPJST. 

meek  and  lowly  Jesus  with  no  feeling  of  rivalry.  He 
humbly  defers  to  His  superior  worthiness ;  he  joyfully 
seizes  upon  every  opportunity  to  proclaim  Him  as  the 
Messiah, — the  King;  he  readily  surrenders  to  Him  his 
best  and  dearest  disciples.  Humble,  faithful,  mighty 
prophet,  the  more  we  see  of  him,  the  more  we  realize  the 
truth  of  the  Saviour's  W' ords :  "  Among  them  that  are 
born  of  women,  there  hath  not  arisen  a  greater  than  John 
the  Baptist."*  We  shall  meet  him  in  this  history  but 
once  or  twice  more ;  but  we  shall  find  him  ahvays  the 
same  firm,  self-denying,  faithful  prophet  of  God,  "fulfill- 
ing his  course  "  even  in  prison  and  in  martyrdom. 

The  next  day  John  standing  with  two  of  his  disciples, 
sees  Jesus  w^alking,  and  calls  their  attention  to  Him.  Let 
us  imagine  the  scene,  and  note  the  characters.  There  is 
the  Baptist,  clad  in  his  coarse  garment  of  camel's  hair ; 
his  pale  face  gleaming  with  an  awful  inspiration,  every 
feature  and  every  motion  expressing  intense  and  solemn 
earnestness, — his  whole  aspect  and  manner  marking  him 
as  a  man  dead  to  all  worldly  hopes,  aims  and  passions. 
Near  him  stood  his  two  disciples, — young  men,  dressed 
in  the  humble  garb  of  fishermen,  from  the  shores  of  Lake 
Gennesareth.  One  of  them  is  Andrew,  the  son  of  Jonas, 
better  known  as  the  brother  of  Simon,  wdio  was  distin- 
guished among  his  humble  associates  for  his  extraordinary 
energy,  vehemence  and  courage.  His  companion  is  a 
young  man  of  calm  and  thoughtful  countenance,  irradi- 
ated with  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  love  and  devotion.  His 
name  is  not  given ;  but  we  are  quite  sure  that  this  is 
Jolin  the  son  of  Zehedee. 

And  now  a  fourth  person  comes  into  view^  John  be- 
holds Jesus  walking  at  a  little  distance,  and  gazing  upon 
Him  with  affectionate  reverence,  exclaims,  "  Behold  the 

♦Matthew  xi,  11. 


JESUS    AT    BETHABARA.  153 

Lamb  of  God."  The  two  fishermen,  struck  both  with  the 
words  of  John  and  the  appearunce  of  Jesus,  reverently 
approach  our  Lord,  and  address  Him :  "  Master,  where 
dwellest  Thou?"*  He  kindly  replies  :  "  Come  and  see."t 
They  accompany  Him  to  His  temporary  abode,  and  re- 
main with  Him  till  the  close  of  the  day ;  that  is  to  say, 
about  two  hours.  Our  Lord,  wdio  has  hitherto  appeared 
only  as  a  silent  actor,  now  comes  upon  the  stage  as  a 
teacher;  He  commences  His  work.  What  transpired 
during  His  interview  with  these  two  Galileans,  is  not  re- 
corded. His  conference  with  them,  however,  determined 
their  after  career.  From  this  time  they  became  His  dis- 
ciples, and  were  subsequently  called  to  be  apostles.  John, 
if  indeed  it  was  he,  was  chosen  by  Jesus  as  his  bosom 
friend ;  he  became  "  that  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved." 
And  it  is  interesting  to  know  that  he  who  outlived  all 
the  other  apostles,  was  perhaps  the  first  who  sustained 
towards  Jesus  the  relation  of  disciple. 

This  interview  of  Jesus  with  the  two  disciples  led  to 
important  results.  Andrew,  who  seems  to  have  believed 
with  all  his  heart,  yearned  to  bring  his  friends  to  his  new 
Master.  He  first  of  all  seeks  his  brother  Simon,  who  is 
also  at  Bethabara,  and  when  he  has  found  him,  tells  him 
the  joyful  news:  "'We  have  found  the  Messiah.' $  He 
has  come !  He  is  here  at  Bethabara !  We  have  seen 
Him !  I  was  with  Him  two  hours  last  evening !  You 
must  come  and  see  Him ;  for  to  see  Him  is  to  believe  on 
Him  and  love  Him."  Simon  is  smitten  with  wonder  and 
curiosity.  He  accompanies  his  brother  to  Jesus,  who  re- 
ceives him  graciously,  saying,  "Thou  art  Simon  the  son 
of  Jona;  thou  shalt  be  called  Cephas  ;"§  that  is  to  say, 
men  shall  call  thee  the  Mem  of  Rock.  This  address 
must  have  filled  Simon  with  astonishment.     How  far  he 

♦John  i.  38.  f  John  i.  39.         t  John  i.  41.  §  John  i   42. 


154  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

was  led  to  believe  on  Jesus,  at  this  time.  Is  uncertain ; 
butwe  know  that  soon  afterwards  he  became  His  con- 
stant follower.  For  the  present,  however,  he  and  his 
brother  Andrew  return  to  their  boats  and  their  nets. 

Having  now  accomplished  His  work  at  Bethabara,  our 
Lord  determined  to  return  to  Galilee.  He  had  made 
a  beginning,  although,  to  human  view,  one  exceedingly 
small  and  unpromising.  Of  all  John's  disciples,  He  had 
found  but  three  of  susceptible  and  believing  minds. 
Either  on  His  way  to  Galilee,  or  after  He  had  reached 
His  destination,  He  fell  in  with  Philip,  who  resided  in 
Bethsaida,  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Tiberias, 
and  who  was,  in  fact,  a  fellow  townsnaan  of  Andrew  and 
Peter.  Jesus  said  to  him  :  "  Follow  me."  *  The  call  was 
effectual.  Philip  immediately  engaged  in  the  work  of 
bringing  others  to  Jesus.  Falling  in  with  Nathanael, 
of  the  neighboring  village  of  Cana,  Philip  says  to  him : 
"  We  have  found  Him  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law  and 
the  prophets  did  write,  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  f  Nathanael, 
though  a  good  man,  is  under  the  influence  of  local  preju- 
dice. "Nazareth!"  he  exclaims;  "Can  any  good  thing 
come  out  of  Nazareth ?"$  Philip  answers,  "Come  and 
see."  As  they  apj)roached  our  Lord,  He  looked  with 
kindness  and  complacency  on  His  new  visitor.  "Behold," 
said  He,  "an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile ;"§  that 
is  to  say,  a  Jew  inwardly  as  well  as  outwardly;  in  the 
spirit  as  well  as  in  the  letter.  Surprised  at  this  recogni- 
tion and  address,  Nathanael  asks:  "Whence  knowest  thou 
me?"  Jesus  replies:  "Before  that  Philip  called^  thee, 
when  thou  wast  under  the  fig-tree,  I  saw  thee."  ||  Struck 
with  sudden  conviction  that  this  is  indeed  the  Messiah, 
Nathanael  exclaims:  "Pia])bi,  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God; 
Thou  art  the  King  of  Israel."^     His  prejudices  against 

*John  i.  43.  f  John  i.  45.  Molm  i.  46. 

§John  i.  47.  ||  Jolm  i.  48.  nFJulm  i.  49. 


JESUS    AT    BETHABAEA.  155 

Nazareth  are  all  dissipated ;  Jesus  has  given  him  a  proof 
of  supernatural  knowledge  which  is  beyond  all  contro- 
versy ;  and  he  at  once  confesses  his  new-born  faith.  Jesus, 
in  His  reply,  admonishes  him  that  he  is  yet  only  in  the 
first  stage  of  faith.  "  Because  I  said  unto  thee,  I  saw  thee 
under  the  fig-tree,  believest  thoa  ?  Thou  shalt  8ee  greater 
things  than  these.  Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  here- 
after ye  shall  see  the  heavens  opened,  and  the  angels  of 
God  ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son  of  Man."* 
"  Nathanael  was  to  see  greater  things  than  this  isolated 
ray  of  the  supernatural.  He  was  to  learn  Christ  as  Him 
through  whom  human  nature  was  to  be  glorified  ;  through 
whom  the  locked-up  heavens  were  to  be  again  opened, 
and  the  communion  between  heaven  and  earth  restored ; 
to  whom  and  from  whom  all  the  powers  of  heaven  were 
to  flow."  t  Nathanael  becomes  henceforth  a  disciple,  and 
in  due  time  an  apostle,  under  his  surname  of  Bartholomew. 
This  portion  of  our  history  is  in  several  aspects  highly 
suggestive.  We  can  not  but  notice  the  noiseless  and  un- 
ostentatious manner  in  which  Jesus  commences  His  work. 
He  makes  no  loud  proclamation  of  Himself  or  His  mission ; 
He  does  not  assail  and  overwhelm  the  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees with  the  wisdom  and  eloquence  of  set  discourses ;  He 
does  not  astonish  and  captivate  the  multitude  by  the 
splendor  of  His  miracles.  On  the  contrary,  He  waits  pa- 
tiently at  Bethabara,  for  some  quiet  opportunity  of  doing 
good  in  private.  Almost  directly  pointed  out  to  His  mes- 
sengers from  Jerusalem,  He  gives  no  responsive  sign,  no 
manifestation  of  His  glory.  When  approached  by  the 
two  inquirers  to  whom  John  had  privately  disclosed  Him, 
He  withdraws  with  them  into  the  seclusion  of  His  abode, 
and  brings  them  to  a  conviction  of  His  Messiahship,  not 
by  signs  from  heaven,  but  by  personal  instruction  and 


*  John  i.  50,  51.  f  Neander's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  page  165. 


106  THE    LIFE    OF    CIirJST. 

persuasion.  Indeed,  the  tribute  which  He  pays  to  the  su- 
periority of  private,  pergonal  effort  for  the  salvation  of 
souls,  over  all  public  ministrations,  is  most  significant. 
Equally  striking,  too,  is  the  testimony  He  bears  to  the 
real  dignity  and  worth  of  the  humbler  agencies, — those 
which  men  are  so  prone  either  to  overlook  or  to  treat 
with  positive  contempt.  Not  the  mighty,  not  the  noble, 
did  He  call  to  be  His  earliest  companions  and  disciples, 
but  He  chose  rather  "  the  Aveak  things  of  the  world  to  con- 
found the  wise."  His  first  followers  and  co-laborers  were 
taken  from  the  humbler  class,  perhaps  the  humblest  of 
all, — s  iinj^Ie  fish  erm  en. 

Now,  why  all  this  ?  It  would  not  have  been  godlike  in 
Him  to  do  otherwise.  Jesus,  the  Word  made  flesh,  the 
Almight}'  Son  of  God  in  human  form,  lived  and  worked  ac- 
cord ing  to  the  laws  and  perfections  of  the  divinity  dwelling 
within  Him.  God's  works  are  never  noisy  or  obtrusive. 
His  almightiness  goes  forth  in  creation  and  providence 
with  silent  though  irresistible  tread.  The  heavens  and 
the  earth  are  full  of  His  wisdom  and  power,  but  their 
manifestations  are  seen  only  by  the  e3'e 

"  That  deaf  and  silent  reads  the  eternal  deep, 
Haunted  forever  by  the  Eternal  Mind." 

It  is  God's  fashion  of  working,  to  operate  through  the 
simpler  and  less  imposing  agencies,  and  to  proceed  from 
small  beginnings,  through  insensil^le  or  unnoted  stages,  to 
wondrous  and  sublime  results.  And  as  He  works  thus  in 
creation  and  providence,  so  also  in  redemption. 

In  perfect  harmony  with  this  divine  m-ethod  was  the 
course  pursued  by  Jesus.  That  He  chose  such  a  course, 
was  proof  of  His  oneness  with  the  Father ; — of  His  true 
divinity.  He  Himself  said  on  one  occasion;  "  My  Father 
worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work;"*  and  when  carefully  con- 

*  John  V.  17. 


JESUS    AT    J3ETUABARA.  15T 

sidered,  His  works  appear  to  have  been  patterned  after 
the  works  of  God ; — to  be  of  a  piece  with  them.  He, 
therefore,  who  does  not  see  in  this  feature  of  Christ's  Hfe 
and  labors  a  proof  of  divinity,  is  blind  indeed.  He  who 
can  consider  it  well,  and  yet  call  Jesus  an  impostor,  is  little 
less  than  a  madman.  No  impostor  would  have  begun  the 
work  of  converting  the  human  family  to  a  new  religion, — 
of  changing  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  world,  in  such 
self-abnegating  silence  and  privacy.  Nor  would  he  have 
called  to  his  aid,  in  this  stupendous  enterprise,  such 
humble  instrumentalities  as  these  uneducated  fishermen 
of  Galilee.  That  Jesus  did  all  this  is  more  wonderful, 
more  God-like  than  His  greatest  miracles. 


CHAPTER    II. 
THE  MARRIAGE  AT  CANA  OF  GALILEE. 

jesus  in  perfect  sympathy  avith  humanlty — his  presence  at  the 
marriage  at  cana — hallows  the  institution  of  marriage — cana, 
and  the  unknown  family  celebrating  the  wedding — the  invited 
guests — mary  at  the  marriage  feast — the  want  of  wine,  and 
Mary's  suggestion  to  jesus — the  reply  of  jesus — the  miracu- 
lous PRODUCTION  of  THE  WINE — THE  REALITY  OF  THE  MIRACLE — 
GENERAL  UNREASONARLENESS  OF  SCEPTICISM  ON  THIS  SUBJECT — 
NECESSITY    FOR    THE    MIRACLE — ITS     SYMBOLICAL    MEANING. 

Whex  the  eternal  Son  of  God  became,  by  His  incarna- 
tion, the  Son  of  Man,  it  was  not  His  purpose  to  disturb, 
much  less  to  abolish,  the  natural  relations  and  institutions 
of  society,  but  rather  to  hallow  and  glorify  them.  He 
came  to  make  the  whole  life  of  man  on  earth  pure  and 
blessed  and  heavenly.  Instead  of  withdrawing  Himself 
from  His  brethren,  as  if  disgusted  by  their  folly  and  wick- 
edness. He  freely  mingjed  with  them,  not  only  in  the 
synagogue  and  in  the  temple,  but  also  in  the  street  and 
in  the  market-place ;  not  only  at  funerals,  but  in  festive 
assemblies.  He  manifested,  at  all  times,  a  genuine  s^^m- 
pathy  with  men  in  then-  struggles  and  trials,  their  disap- 
pointments and  failures,  their  hopes  and  victories,  their 
social  pleasures  and  domestic  joys.  We  are  not  surprised, 
therefore,  when  we  find  our  Lord  in  attendance  on  a  mar- 
riage feast.  The  fact,  besides  revealing  the  largeness  of 
His  sympathy  with  mankind,  has  a  special  significance 
which  is  worthy  of  careful  consideration.     He  well  knew 


THE    MARRIAGE    AT    CANA.  159 

that  the  time  would  come  when  many  of  His  disciples — 
when  many  calling  themselves  His  priests — would  dispar- 
age and  denounce  the  marriage  state  as  impure,  or  at 
least,  less  pure  than  a  life  of  celibacy.  Such  a  perversioii 
of  the  spirit  and  precepts  of  the  gospel  should  have  no 
countenance  from  His  words  or  His  example.  His  pres- 
ence at  a  wedding  invests  the  institution  of  marriage 
with  peculiar  sanctity  and  honor. 

A  few  miles  north  of  Nazareth,  and  west  of  Lake  Tibe- 
rias, on  a  rounded  eminence,  overlooking  toward  the  south 
a  wide  and  fertile  plain,  are  the  ruins  of  a  village  still 
called  by  the  natives,  "  Cana  of  Galilee."  In  that  village 
resided,  in  the  time  of  our  Lord,  a  family  wdiich  was  oil 
terms  of  intimacy  with  that  of  Mary,  Little  is  known 
of  it;  even  the  name  of  the  family  is  not  given.  That 
they  were  in  humljle  circumstances,  is  quite  clear  from 
the  fact  that  artisans  and  fishermen  were  among  the  in- 
vited guests,  and  also  from  the  scarcity  of  provisions  for 
the  feast.  In  this  humble  family,  an  event  of  no  ordinary 
interest  was  about  to  occur.  One  of  its  members,  whose 
name  is  not  given,  was  to  bring  home  a  bride.  The  occa- 
sion was  one  of  great  rejoicing.  From  far  and  wide,  they 
had  called  together  their  acquaintance  and  kinsfolk  to 
share  with  them  in  the  festivities  of  the  day.  Among 
the  invited  guests  were  Jesus  and  Mary,  with  the  little 
group  of  His  disciples. 

The  presence  of  Mary  is  a  matter  of  peculiar  interest. 
For  more  than  thirty  years,  the  recollection  of  wondrous 
visions,  of  angelic  salutations,  of  prophetic  promises,  and 
above  all  of  that  marvellous  event  which  had  made  her 
blessed  among  women, — all  these  had  kept  alive  in  her 
heart  one  great  divine  hope.  She  had  doubtless  longed, 
perhaps  with  some  impatience, — for  the  manifestation  of 
her  Son  as  the  Messiah.  She  was  now  evidently  expect- 
ing some  speedy  demonstration  of  His  divinity, — some 


160  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

miraculous  revelation  of  His  glory.  To  this  expectation 
she  had  been  led  by  many  signs  and  wonders,  and  perhaps 
by  some  intimation  given  by  Jesus  himself.  A  special 
presentiment  seems  to  have  pointed  her  to  this  marriage 
feast  as  the  chosen  time. 

The  guests  are  all  assembled.  According  to  the  custom 
of  the  Jews,  as  well  as  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  one  of 
the  number  is  chosen  to  preside  as  '•  Governor  of  the 
Feast;"  a  feast  spread,  not  in  a  palace,  but  in  a  cottage; 
not  with  costly  luxuries,  but  with  such  cheap  yet  delicious 
viands  as  supply  the  tables  of  those  who  live  in  the  land 
of  the  fig,  the  olive  and  the  vine.  The  guests  gather 
around  the  board,  and  doubtless  indulge  in  such  cheerful 
conversation  and  innocent  hilarity  as  are  appropriate  to 
the  occasion.  Jesus  is  among  them.  The  evangelist  says 
nothing  of  His  apjoearance ;  but  we  may  imagine  Him  sit- 
ting there,  calm,  gentle,  holy,  uttering  words  of  sweetest 
wisdom,  as  the  tone  of  the  conversation  or  the  incidents 
of  the  feast  permit. 

After  the  feasting  had  gone  on  for  some  time,  the  wine 
upon  the  table  was  exhausted,  and  there  was  a  call  for 
more.  The  call  was  embarrassing  to  the  host  and  his 
family;  either  from  their  poverty,  or  because  the  number 
of  the  guests  was  greater  than  had  been  expected,  they 
had  provided  an  insufficient  quantity.  At  this  juncture, 
Mary,  who  was  at  home  in  the  family,  and  who  had  learned 
the  cause  of  the  embarrassment,  went  to  Jesus,  as  she  had 
doulitless  been  wont  to  do  whenever  she  wanted  counsel, 
and  said  to  Him,  as  it  would  seem  aside  from  the  hearing 
of  the  company :  "  They  have  no  wine."  There  was  more 
m  this  than  the  words  seemed  to  express.  Our  Lord  evi- 
dently understood  her  as  suggesting  the  proper  course  for 
Him  to  pursue, — as  hinting  the  propriety  of  His  providing 
a  miraculous  supply. 

As  this  was  the  beginning  of  His  miracles,  Jesus  seized 


THE    MARRIAGE    AT    CAXA.  IGl 

upon  the  occasion  to  impress  on  the  minds  of  those  near- 
est Him  a  leading  j)rinciple  of  His  ministry.  He  apprised 
His  mother  that  He  must  not  perform  these  mighty  works 
at  her  suggestion;  He  must  act,  not  as  the  Son  of  Mary, 
but  as  the  Son  of  God.  "  Woman,"  said  He,  "  what  have 
I  to  do  with  thee?  Mine  hour  is  not  yet  come."  As 
compared  with  our  modern  style  of  address,  these  words 
seem  abrupt  and  even  harsh.  They  are,  however,  though 
slightly  admonitory,  perfectly  mild  and  respectful.  A 
similar  style  was  used  by  Jesus  wdien,  as  he  was  expiring 
upon  the  cross.  He  said  to  His  mother :  "  Woman,  behold 
thy  son."  Surely,  His  feeling  and  intention  at  that  time 
must  have  been  the  farthest  possible  from  displeasure  or 
unkindness.  When,  then,  Jesus  says:  "What  have  I  to 
do  with  thee?"  w^e  must  understand  Him  to  mean  simply: 
"In  matters  of  this  kind,  there  is  nothing  common  be- 
tween us;  in  working  miracles,  I  cannot  act  under  thy 
advice.  Besides,  the  time  for  me  to  interpose  has  not  yet 
arrived :  of  that,  I  must  be  sole  judge."  That  the  words 
of  Jesus  were  kindly  spoken,  is  evident  from  the  conduct 
of  Mary.  Notwithstanding  her  seeming  repulse,  she 
evinces  no  doubt  that  her  implied  request  will  be  granted  ; 
this  appears  from  the  direction  she  gave  the  servants  to 
obey  the  commands  of  Jesus. 

There  were  at  this  time  standing  in  the  house,  six  empty 
vessels  or  jars  of  stone,  holding  about  tw^enty  gallons  each. 
These  vessels  were  used,  in  accordance  with  Jewish  cus- 
toms, in  religious  ablutions.  Jesus  directed  the  servants 
to  fill  these  vessels  with  w^ater.  When  they  had  filled 
them  to  the  brim.  He  said  to  them:  "Draw  out  now,  and 
bear  unto  the  governor  of  the  feast."  *  Having  tasted  of 
the  wine  before  distributing  to  the  guests,  as  was  His  duty, 
the  governor,  being  entirely  ignorant  of  what  had  been 


*  John  ii.  8. 
11 


162  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

going  on,  called  out  to  the  bridegroom,  saying  in  substance : 
"Most  men  bring  on  their  best  wine  at  the  beginning  of 
the  feast;  and,  when  their  guests,  having  drunk  some- 
what largely,  have  either  sated  their  appetites,  or  become 
less  critical  in  their  taste,  they  bring  forward  wines  of  a 
poorer  sort.  But  you  have  reversed  the  order,  and  kept 
the  most  delicious  wine  till  the  last."  It  thus  appears 
that  in  ol^edience  to  the  divine  will  in  Jesus,  the  water 
which  had  been  put  in  the  six  vessels  of  stone,  had  be- 
come wine. 

Of  the  reality  of  the  miracle,  thus  wrought,  the  facts 
leave  no  doubt.  There  was  no  room  for  collusion.  The 
vv^ine  had  been  exhcmsted:  the  stone  vessels  had  been  filled 
with  wafer  by  the  servants:  the  governor  of  the  feast  had 
borne  testimony  that  when  it  was  drawn  again  from  the 
vessels,  it  was  ivine.  The  miracle  was  so  clear  and  palpa- 
ble that  His  disciples,  it  is  said,  "  believed  on  Him."  They 
had  begun  to  believe  before; — some  of  them  at  Bethabara, 
others  in  Galilee, — but  now  their  faith  was  greatly  enlarged 
and  strengthened.  "  This  beginning  of  miracles  did  Jesus 
in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  manifested  His  glory."* 

Doubtless,  this  miracle  of  the  transmutation  of  water 
into  wine  will  seem  to  some  minds  encumbered  with  diffi- 
culties. The  fact  is  not  to  be  disguised,  that  there  are 
those  who  are  so  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  materialism 
of  the  age,  that  they  stumble  at  the  miraculous  element, — 
the  si(2Jernoii(raHsm, — of  the  four  gospels.  So  far  as  the 
biography  of  Jesus  comes  within  the  range  of  ordinary 
experience,  they  can  read  it  with  delight,  for  they  are 
deeply  impressed  with  the  originality,  beauty  and  power 
of  His  personal  character;  and  they  admire  the  singular 
purity,  w^isdom,  and  majesty  of  His  discourses.  But,  in- 
fected witli  tlio  prejudices  of  an  age  which  honors  a  Car- 

*Jolin  ii.  11. 


THE    MAKIilAGE    AT    CANA.  163 

lyle,  a  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  and  a  Theodore  Parker, 
the  J  have  secret  misgivings  as  to  His  miracles  3 — they  are 
disposed  to  regard  them  as  the  inventions  of  credulity  and 
superstition. 

Now,  it  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  here  into  any  dis- 
cussion of  the  nature  or  probability  of  miracles.  The 
general  subject  has  been  elsewhere  sufficiently  considered. 
It  is  enough  to  say  that  the  difficulties  which  appear  in 
the  miracle  in'  question  all  dissolve  with  the  dissolution 
of  the  prejudice  against  miracles  in  general.  Of  the 
nature  of  the  particular  miracle  in  question,  it  has  been 
forcibly  said  by  that  most  thoughtful  writer.  Archbishop 
Trench :  "  Like  most  acts  of  creation,  or  more  strictly 
of  becoming,  this  of  the  water  becoming  wine  is  with- 
drawn from  sight,  and  the  actual  process  of  the  change 
we  labor  in  vain  to  conceive.  And  yet,  in  truth,  it  is  in 
no  way  stranger,  save  in  the  rapidity  with  which  it  is  ef- 
fected, than  that  which  is  every  day  going  forward  among 
us,  but  to  which  use  and  custom  have  so  dulled  our  eyes 
that  we  commonly  do  not  marvel  at  all,  and,  because  we 
can  call  it  by  its  name,  suppose  we  have  discovered  its 
secret.  He  who  does,  every  year,  prepare  the  wine  in  the 
grape,  causing  it  to  drink  up  and  expand  with  the  moist- 
ure of  earth  and  heaven,  to  take  this  up  into  itself,  and 
transmute  it  into  its  own  nobler  juices,  did  now  gather 
together  all  those  slower  processes  into  the  act  of  a  single 
moment,  and  accomplish  in  an  instant  what  He  ordinarily 
accomplishes  in  many  months.  This  analogy  does  not, 
indeed,  help  us  to  understand  what  our  Lord  did  now,  but 
yet  brings  before  us,  that  in  this.  He  was  working  in 
the  line  of  His  more  ordinary  workings — which  we  see 
daily  around  us,  the  miracle  of  every  day  nature."  *  This 
train  of  thought  is  sufficient  to  show  the  unreasonableness 

*  Trench  on  Miracles,  pp.  90,  91. 


184  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

of  the  prejudice  against  miracles  in  general,  and  the  ob- 
jections against  this  one  in  particular. 

Beyond  these  more  general  considerations,  this  miracle 
bore  a  peculiar  relation  to  the  mission  of  Jesus.  It  was, 
as  the  first  of  His  mighty  works,  necessary  to  His  self-rev- 
elation. The  evangelist  fitly  styles  it  the  manifestation 
of  His  glory.  Jesus  appeared  in  form  and  fashion  as  a 
man.  Without  such  a  manifestation  of  His  supernatural 
power,  no  one  would  have  believed  in  His  divinity.  Only 
through  some  such  mighty  vrork  could  the  indwelling 
glory  flash  forth  to  human  view.  This  revelation  of  Him- 
self was  therefore  necessary  to  His  just  reception  among 
men.  Without  it,  His  labors  would  have  been  followed 
by  no  proper  discipleship.  Only  by  His  miracles,  were 
the  minds  of  men  made  susceptible  of  enlightenment  by 
His  teachings.  They  awakened  attention,  excited  rever- 
ence and  awe,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  exercise  of  a 
full  and  firm  faith.  As  John  clearly  intimates,  because 
of  them  His  disciples  believed  on  Him.  Nor  is  their  in- 
fluence confined  to  them.  As  we  look  back  over  the  life 
of  Jesus,  and  find  among  His  works  not  only  miracles, 
but  the  very  miracles  which  we  should  expect  to  be 
wrought  by  a  God  incarnate, — miracles  of  blended  power, 
wisdom,  and  love ;  we  also  are  constrained  to  believe  that 
in  Him,  "  we  have  found  the  Messiah,  which  is,  being  in- 
terpreted, the  Christ." 

As  this  was  the  beghming  of  miracles,  it  is  not  unrea- 
sonable to  look  to  find  in  it  a  prophetic  and  symbolical 
meaning.  It  has,  in  fact,  been  regarded  by  commentators 
of  every  age,  as  intended  to  shadow  forth  the  great  design 
of  Christ's  mission.  His  desire  was  to  change  water  into 
wine,  in  more  senses  than  one.  He  came,  not  to  destroj^, 
but  to  fulfil ; — to  raise  nature  into  virtue,  natural  pleasure 
into  spiritual  blessedness  ;  fallen  humanity  into  the  fellow- 
ship of  God  and  the  hope  of  glorv;  to  ennoble,  beautifv. 


THE   MARRIAGE   AT    CANA.  165 

and  enrich  the  whole  of  man's  life,  by  infusing  into  it  a 
new  and  heaven-born  element  of  love  and  religion.  This 
wine  of  heaven,  into  which  Jesus  transmutes  our  poor 
human  life,  unlike  that  of  earth  is  not  soon  exhausted 
and  leaves  no  sting  behind  it,  but  grows  more  fidl  and 
fragrant  and  precious,  as  life  wears  on  toward  the  moment 
when,  having  put  on  immortality,  we  shall  drink  the  new 
wine  with  Him  in  His  father's  kingdom. 


CHAPTER    III. 

FIRST    JOURNEY    OF    JESUS    TO    JERUSALEM    AND    THE 

TEMPLE. 

JESUS  GOES  TO  CAPERNAUM — CAPERNAUM  AND  THE  VICINITY — THE  VALE 
OF  GENNESARET — THE  SOJOURN  AT  CAPERNAUM — JESUS  GOES  TO  JERU- 
SALEM— JERUSALEM  AND  THE  TEMPLE — THE  MULTITUDE  AT  THE 
PASSOVER — CONVERTED  GENTILES  PRESENT — AGITATION  OF  THE  MUL- 
TITUDE— THE  MESSIAH  IN  THE  CITY  AND  THE  TEMPLE,  BUT  UNRECOG- 
NIZED. 

After  the  miracle  at  Cana,  Jesus,  accompanied  by  His 
mother  and  His  brethren,  and  by  the  few  disciples  who 
had  already  clustered  round  Him,  went  down  to  Caper- 
naum, Avhich  became  the  centre  of  His  subsequent  labors 
in  Galilee.  Capernaum  lies  on  the  north-western  side  of 
Lake  Gennesaret,  and  is  sunk  a  thousand  feet  below  the 
level  of  the  elevated  plain  which  surrounds  it.  The  view 
from  the  western  hills  adjacent,  is  said  to  be  very  striking. 
The  traveler  sees  far  below  him  a  blue  sheet  of  fresh 
water,  some  thirteen  miles  long,  and  in  the  broadest  parts, 
six  or  seven  miles  wide ;  its  deep  depression  is  a  volcanic 
basin,  giving  it  something  of  that  strange,  unnatural  char- 
acter Avhich  belongs  in  a  still  greater  degree  to  the  Dead 
Sea.  The  eastern  highlands  slope  abruptly  to  the  water's 
edge,  forming  a  lofty  wall  extending  the  entire  length  of 
the  lake.  On  the  west,  the  range  of  hills  starting  from 
the  coast,  at  the  southern  extremity,  trends  first  westward, 
and    then    to    the    north-cast,  growing    constantly   more 


JESUS    AT    JERUSALEM    AND    THE    TEMPLE.  1G7 

rounded  and  beautiful,  till,  as  a  gentle  elevation,  it  again 
touches  the  lake. 

In  the  recess  formed  by  these  encircling  hills,  lies  the 
sacred  plain  or  vale  of  Gennesaret,  about  seven  miles  in 
length  by  three  or  four  in  breadth.  It  is  described  by  all 
who  have  seen  it,  as  a  natural  paradise.  Well  watered 
by  perennial  fountains  and  rivulets,  with  a  soil  of  unsur- 
passed fertility,  and  a  climate  that  favors  the  production 
of  tropical  fruits  as  well  as  those  of  the  temperate  zone, 
it  is  even  now  famous  for  its  exuberant  fruitfulness  and 
beauty.  In  the  time  of  Christ  it  was  thickly  studded 
with  flourishing  villages,  embowered  in  palm  groves,  vine- 
yards, and  olive  orchards.  The  ^^opulation, — which  con- 
tained a  large  Gentile  element, — was  numerous  and  emi- 
nently thrifty,  subsisting  upon  the  productions  of  the  soil, 
and  the  fish  of  the  lake,  and  enriching  itself  by  commerce 
with  the  neighboring  towns.  Magdala,  Dalmanutha,  Ca- 
pernaum, Bethsaida,  and  Chorazin,  must  have  constituted 
an  almost  continuous  city. 

Our  Lord  sojourned  but  a  few  days  at  Capernaum. 
While  there,  He  seems  neither  to  have  wrought  miracles, 
nor  to  have  delivered  any  public  discourses.*  He  probably 
spent  the  time  in  private  intercourse  with  His  disciples, 
the  majority  of  whom  resided  in  the  immediate  vicinity. 
Andrew  and  Peter,  James  and  John,  Philip  and  Nathnnael, 
must  have  had  the  blessed  privilege  of  listening  to  the 
early  discourses  of  Him  who  had  been  already  manifested 
to  them  as  the  "Son  of  God  and  the  King  of  Israel." 
Perhaps,  besides  these,  a  large  number  of  women  were 
already  drawn  to  Him,  among  whom  was  Salome,  the 
wife  of  Zebedee.  Thus,  there  was  gathered  about  our 
Lord,  a  company  of  young  men,  with  their  mothers  and 
sisters,  who  felt  in  their  hearts  the  dawn  of  the  divine 

*See  Andrews'  "  Life  of  Christ,"  page  156.     For  the  opposite  view,  see 
Lange's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  volume  2,  page  208. 


168  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

morning  which  was  breaking  over  the  world.  It  was 
indeed  a  fresh  and  glorious  youth  which  was  taking  pos- 
session of  the  earth. 

The  time  was  at  hand  when  Jesus  purposed  to  make  a 
public  demonstration  of  His  divine  power  and  authority. 
The  great  feast  of  the  Passover,  which  was  soon  to  be 
celebrated,  would  furnish  a  fitting  occasion.  A  large  part 
of  the  nation  would  then  be  congregated  at  Jerusalem. 
Proposing  to  manifest  Himself  to  Israel,  in  that  "great 
congregation,"  Jesus  at  length  set  out  on  His  first  mem- 
orable journey  to  Jerusalem.  The  incidents  of  the  jour- 
ney are  not  recorded.  Doubtless  it  was  made  on  foot,  in 
company  with  His  disciples,  and  probably  also  with  His 
mother  and  His  brethren.  The  time  was  filled  up  with 
heavenly  discourse,  and  with  the  singing  of  psalms,  with 
which  devout  Israelites  seem  to  have  refreshed  themselves, 
on  the  way  to  the  Holy  City. 

As  Jesus  drew  near  to  Jerusalem,  what  a  spectacle  of 
grandeur  and  beauty  must  have  burst  on  His  vision. 
That  city  was  then  in  its  noon-day  glory,  and  ranked 
among  the  most  splendid  in  the  world.  Its  population 
was  enormous,  and  its  wealth  beyond  computation.  It 
was  the  metropolis,  not  only  of  Palestine,  but  also  of  the 
millions  of  Jews  dispersed  throughout  the  whole  world, 
who  were  continually  bringing  and  sending  the  richest 
gifts  to  the  temple.  So  great  indeed  had  been  the  influx 
of  gold,  previous  to  the  time  of  Herod,  that  the  priests 
were  at  a  loss  how  to  dispose  of  it.  They  used  immense 
quantities  in  useless  if  not  puerile  ornaments.  There  was, 
for  example,  a  large  beam  of  solid  gold,  enclosed  in  wood. 
The  great  portico  was  gorgeous  with  an  immense  golden 
vine,  heavy  with  clusters.  The  treasury  was  always  full 
to  overflowing.  Herod  employed  this  incredible  wealth 
in  rebuilding  the  temple  and  embellishing  it  with  such 
works  of  art  as  the  law  did  not  expressly  forbid.     It  was 


JESUS    AT   JERUSALEM    AND    THE    TEMPLE.  1G9 

a  marvellous  structure.  With  its  stupendous  outer  wall, 
its  lofty  "Gate  Beautiful,"  wrought  of  Corinthian  brass, 
its  pillared  cloisters,  its  outer  court,  its  central  edifice,  the 
temple  proper,  covered  with  gold,  and  blazing  like  an 
earthly  sun, — the  whole  was  the  wonder  of  the  world,  and 
the  Israelite's  peculiar  pride  and  joy.  Thither  the  tribes 
went  up  thrice  a  year  to  worship.  But  at  the  Passo- 
ver feast,  the  city, — paved  with  marble,  and  built  in  a 
style  of  corresponding  magnificence, — was  thronged  with 
a  "multitude  which  no  man  could  number."  It  is  com- 
puted that  this  feast  drew  together,  in  addition  to  the 
permanent  population,  not  less  than  a  million  of  human 
beings.  Many  of  these  were  from  remote  lands.  Arabia, 
Parthia,  Mesopotamia,  perhaps  India  and  China;  Egypt, 
Ethiopia,  Nubia,  Abyssinia;  the  parts  of  Libya  about 
Cyrene ;  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  Italy,  Gaul  and  Spain ;  every 
part  of  the  world  sent  up  caravans  of  pilgrims  to  the 
Holy  and  Beautiful  City, — all  wearing  the  costumes  and 
speakmg  the  dialects  of  the  several  countries  from  which 
they  came. 

In  this  vast  concourse,  were  thousands  of  "devout 
strangers,"  not  of  the  seed  of  Abraham.  It  is  a  matter  of 
history,  that  the  Jewish  religion  had  been  making  rapid 
progress  among  Gentile  nations,  for  several  generations 
before  Christ.  Even  kings  and  queens  were  among  the 
proselytes  who  sometimes  worshipped  in  the  temple-courts. 
The  glowing  prophecies  of  Isaiah  had  already  been  liter- 
ally, though  not  finally  and  com^Dletely  fulfilled.  Perhaps, 
as  our  Lord  made  His  way  through  the  throng  of  strangers, 
He  was  reminded  of  the  words  of  the  prophet :  "  Lift  up 
thine  e3^es  round  about  and  see ;  all  they  gather  them- 
selves together;  they  come  to  thee;  thy  sons  shall  come 
from  far,  and  thy  daughters  shall  be  nursed  at  thy  side. 
Then  thou  shalt  see  and  flow  together,  and  thy  heart  shall 
fear  and  be  enlarged,  because  the  abundance  of  the  sea 


170  TilE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

shall  be  converted  unto  thee  ;  the  forces  of  the  Gentiles 
shall  come  unto  thee.  The  multitude  of  camels  shall 
cover  thee ;  the  dromedaries  of  Midian  and  EjDhah ;  all 
they  from  Sheba  shall  come :  they  shall  bring  gold  and 
incense ;  and  they  shall  show  forth  the  praises  of  the 
Lord.  All  the  flocks  of  Kedar  shall  be  gathered  unto 
thee :  the  rams  of  Nebaioth  shall  minister  unto  thee. 
Who  are  these  that  fly  as  a  cloud,  and  as  doves  to  their 
windows  ?  Surely,  the  isles  shall  wait  for  thee,  and  the 
ships  of  Tarshish  first,  to  bring  thy  sons  from  far,  their 
silver  and  gold  with  them,  unto  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy 
God,  and  to  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  because  He  hath 
glorified  thee."  These  predictions  were  fulfilled  to  the 
letter,  at  every  Passover  during  our  Lord's  ministry. 

This  immense  multitude,  now  crowding  the  city  of  Je- 
rusalem, and  covering  the  neighboring  hills  with  their  en- 
campments, found  the  peof)le  of  Palestine  agitated, — 
almost  convulsed,  with  a  great  national  excitement.  For 
many  months  a  mighty  prophet  had  been  preaching  and 
baptizing,  saying,  "  Repent ;  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
at  hand."  Nay,  he  had  lately,  it  was  said,  declared  pub- 
licly to  members  of  the  Sanhedrim,  that  the  Messiah  had 
already  come ;  that  He  was  even  then  in  the  land,  ming- 
ling with  the  people,  though  they  knew  Him  not.  A 
vague  hope  was  throbbing  in  all  hearts,  that  the  long- 
expected  Heir  of  David  would  soon  appear.  Might  He 
not  appear  at  this  very  feast?  What  more  fit  occasion  for 
so  august  an  event?  These  questions,  doubtless,  passed 
from  one  to  another.  Thus  the  agitation  extended  from 
the  Jews  to  the  proselytes  and  strangers,  until  the  whole 
vast  concourse  was  tossing  with  excitement. 

The  Heir  of  David  was  indeed  there,  though  He  was 
unrecognized  by  the  multitude.  He  had  passed  through 
the  streets  of  the  city ;  He  had  entered  the  precincts  of 
the  temple ;   He  was  in  the  midst  of  the  multitude  to 


JESUS    AT   JERUSALEM    AND    THE    TEMPLE  171 

Avhom  His  presence  was  so  full  of  divine  promise ;  but 
none  beheld  in  Him  the  "  Messenger  of  the  covenant," 
spoken  of  by  the  prophet.*  Worldly  and  unspiritual, 
how  could  they  discern  the  Son  of  God  in  the  meek 
Galilean  youth,  upon  whom,  only  a  few  poor  fishermen 
were  in  waiting  ? 

Malachi  ui.  1. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

JESUS   PURIFIES   THE  TEMPLE. 

THE  TRAFFICKERS  IN  THE  TEMPLE — JESUS  DRIVES  THEM  F#OM  THE  TEM- 
PLE— JESUS  CHALLENGED  TO  SHOW  A  MIRACULOUS  SIGN — REASON  FOR 
HIS  REFUSAL  TO  DO  SO — HIS  REPLY — SIGNIFICANCE  OF  HIS  LANGUAGE 
— CONDITION  OF  THE  HUMAN  TEMPLE — GOD'S  PURPOSE  TO  RE-EDIFY 
IT — MEANS  REQUISITE,  AND  SYMBOLS  EMPLOYED — CONSEQUENT  MEAN- 
ING OF  CHRIST'S  LANGUAGE,  APPLIED  TO  HIMSELF — AS  APPLIED  TO 
THE   CHURCH — FURTHER   LABORS  OF  JESUS  AT  JERUSALEM. 

It  would  be  deeply  interesting  to  know  what  were  the 
emotions  of  Jesus,  as  He  thus  entered  the  vast  arena 
called  the  "  Courts  of  the  Temple,"  and  stood  amidst  the 
multitude  on  this  august  occasion.  Of  this  we  know 
nothing,  save  that  He  appears  not  to  have  been  so  much 
struck  with  the  sight  of  that  sea  of  human  beings,  as  with 
the  strange  spectacle  which  met  His  gaze  in  another  part 
of  the  sacred  enclosure.  There  were  congregated,  not 
reverent  Israelites,  intent  upon  the  imposing  rites  of  the 
temple-service ;  not  devout  and  expectant  children  of  the 
promise,  waiting  for  the  glorious  manifestation  of  their 
King ;  but  flocks  and  herds,  buyers  and  sellers,  money- 
brokers  and  dealers  in  doves ;  indeed,  all  the  frequenters 
and  appointments  of  a  regular  market.  The  eager,  noisy 
huckstering  went  on  in  sight  of  the  great  altar,  and  of  the 
awful  rites  of  sacrifice.  It  would  seem  that  the  concourse 
of  such  a  vast  multitude,  many  of  them  from  distant  lands, 
and  the  consequent  demand  for  victims  for  the  altar,  had 
created  a  very  lucrative  trade ;  and  that,  for  greater  con- 


PURIFICATION    OF    THE    TEMPLE.  173 

venience,  the  dealers  had  estabhshed  themselves  in  the 
court  of  the  Gentiles,  reasoning,  jDcrhaps,  that  animals  in- 
tended for  sacrifice  were  less  impure  and  offensive  to  Je- 
hovah than  the  uncircumcised  heathen.  And  for  this 
reason,  perhaps,  the  Pharisees,  from  whose  superstitious 
reverence  for  the  temple  some  opposition  to  the  desecra- 
tion might  have  been  anticipated,  either  connived  at  it  or 
openly  approved  it.  Possibly,  they  regarded  the  Gentiles 
as  standing  on  a  level  with  unclean  beasts,  while  the 
sacrificial  animals  served  for  purification.  It  was,  there- 
fore, quite  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  Pharisaism, 
that  those  animals  were  allowed  to  exclude  the  Gentiles 
from  their  court.* 

This  open  and  shameless  profanation  of  the  house  of 
the  livinc^  God,  kindles  in  the  soul  of  Jesus  divine  indig;- 
nation.  He  is  in  His  Father's  house ;  He  is  rightful  Lord 
and  Master  here ;  and  He  will  give  a  demonstration  of 
His  authority.  While  the  merchants  and  money-changers 
pursue  their  sacrilegious  occupations,  they  are  suddenly 
startled  by  the  approach  of  a  youthful  stranger,  on  whose 
form  and  features  are  stamped  superhuman  power,  maj- 
esty and  holiness.  He  holds  in  His  right  hand  a  scourge, 
with  which  like  a  prophet  of  old.  He  seems  to  threaten 
them  with  divine  judgments.  They  are  smitten  with 
supernatural  terror.  They  have  no  thought  of  resist- 
ing; but  as  our  Lord  advances  they  fall  back;  they 
fly  from  the  holy  place,  expelled  by  a  presence  which 
cows  and  paralyzes  their  guilty  souls.  The  sheep  and 
oxen  are  driven  out  of  the  temple,  and  the  tables  of 
the  money-changers  are  overthrown.  The  sellers  of 
doves,  treated  with  less  severity,  perhaps,  because  doves 
were  the  offerings  of  the  poor, — are  sternly  bidden  to 
depart.    "  Take  these  things  hence,"  says  this  Divine  Lord 

*Lange's  "Life  of  Glirlst,"  volume  2,  page  299. 


174  THE    LIFE    OF    CnRIST. 

of  the  temple ;  "  make  not  My  Father's  house  a  house  of 
merchandise." 

Ujjon  these  unwonted  proceedings  the  multitude  look 
with  silent  amazement :  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  are  awe- 
struck and  speechless ;  priests  and  scribes  are  dumb :  the 
officers  of  the  temple  are  powerless  to  interfere.  They 
recognize  in  every  Jew  the  right  to  come  forward  as  a 
zealot  against  illegal  abuses ;  and  these  acts  of  Jesus  are 
therefore  unforbidden.  Only  when  all  is  over,  a  few  gather 
courage  to  approach  our  Lord.  "  What  sign,"  say  they, 
"showest  thou  unto  us,  seeing  that  Thou  doest  these 
things?"*  The  question  is  natural,  though  the  motive 
that  prompted  it  may  have  been  criminal.  They  see  in 
Jesus  the  assumption  of  extraordinary  authority.  He 
evidently  claims  to  be  Lord  of  the  temple.  They  seek 
to  test  His  claims.  Thus  He  is  challenged  in  the  temple 
itself,  in  the  midst  of  the  congregated  nation,  in  the 
presence  of  the  theocratic  authorities,  to  give  a  miracu- 
lous demonstration  of  His  Divine  Mission.  But  He  gives 
no  such  demonstration.  The  opportunity,  seemingly  the 
fittest  of  all, — the  very  one  apparently  sought  by  Him, — ■ 
passes  and  He  gives  no  sign. 

The  reason  for  this  is  not  far  to  seek.  Had  He  wrought 
such  a  miracle  as  they  demanded, — had  He  given  them  a 
sign  from  heaven,  they  would  probably  have  accepted 
Him  as  their  Messiah,  proclaimed  Him  king  on  the  spot, 
and  demanded  that  He  should  instantly  lead  them  against 
their  Roman  oppressors.  Nor  would  it  have  availed  for 
Him  to  protest  against  such  violent  measures,  and  to  pro- 
pose the  spiritual  objects  and  plans  of  the  gospel.  They 
could  not  understand  His  person  or  mission ;  they  would 
have  persisted  in  regarding  Him  as  a  Jewish  prince  and 
conqueror.     Thus  the  temptation  of  the  wilderness  was 

*  John  ii.  18. 


PURIFICATION    OF    THE    TEMPLE.  175 

repeated;  thus  a  worldly  kingdom  was  a  second  time 
offered  and  refused. 

Yet  our  Lord  does  give  them  a  sign,  though  one  which 
must  have  seemed  to  them  unmeaning,  evasive  and  even 
blasphemous :  ^'  Destroy  this  temple  and  in  three  days  I 
will  raise  it  up."*  This  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most 
pregnant  and  wonderful  utterances  that  ever  dropped  from 
the  lips  of  Christ.  Yet  it  Avas  obscure,  not  to  say  enig- 
matical, to  the  most  enlightened  of  those  who  heard  it. 
The  Jews  having  no  conception  of  His  meaning,  said: 
'•  Forty  and  six  years  was  this  temple  in  building,  and  wilt 
Thou  rear  it  up  in  three  days?"t  The  disciples  them- 
selves did  not  understand  the  saying  till  after  the  resur- 
rection. They  did  not,  however,  forget  it.  Neither  did 
His  enemies  ;  for  a  distorted  and  malicious  report  of  it  con- 
stituted one  of  the  accusations  against  Him,  when  He  was 
arraigned  before  the  Sanhedrim.  The  saying  evidently 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  popular  mind ;  for  the 
thieves  who  were  crucified  with  Him,  and  the  people  who 
passed  by,  taunted  Him,  saying — "  Thou  that  destroyest 
the  temple  and  bulkiest  it  in  three  days,  save  thyself"  J 

The  meaning  of  this  mysterious  saying  has  been  grow- 
ing clearer  with  the  lapse  of  ages ;  and  we  are  now  ena- 
bled to  see  that  it  was  the  far-reaching  and  comprehensive 
utterance  of  One,  who  was  at  once  the  Son  of  man  and  the 
Son  of  God.     Let  us  endeavor  to  seize  its  true  meanino-. 

It  is  not  the  concourse  of  multitudes  even  for  the  pur- 
pose of  worship,  which  gives  to  any  place  or  structure 
the  character  of  a  temple  ;  it  is  the  immediate  presence 
of  God.  Previous  to  the  fall,  the  true  temple  of  God  was 
man,  whose  body  was  a  consecrated  outer  court,  whose 
soul  was  the  sanctuary,  with  the  ever-burning  lamps,  and 
the  altar  of  incense,  whose  spirit  was  the  holy  of  holies, 

*John  ii.  19.  tJolinii.  20  J  Mark  xv.  29,  30- 


17G  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

illuminated  ^vltli  the  indwelling  shekinah.  But,  by  the 
apostasy  of  our  first  parents,  God  was  ejected  from  His 
chosen  habitation,  and  man  was  left  a  mournful  moral  ruin. 
What  was  once  the  bright  and  serene  dwelling  of  the 
Most  High,  became  "  the  hold  of  every  foul  spirit,  and  a 
cage  of  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird."  *  The  luunan 
world  was  forsaken  of  God  ;  and  even  the  natural  creation 
was  dimmed  by  reason  of  man's  rebellion,  and  of  the  di- 
vine displeasure. 

But  God  yearned  after  His  temple,  desolate  and  in  ruins ; 
He  looked  Avitli  pity  on  His  rebellious  creature,  ever  wan- 
dering further  and  further  from  light  and  blessedness  ;  He 
determined  to  reclaim,  purify,  rebuild  and  adorn  His  lost 
habitation,  and  to  return  and  dw^ell  therein  forever.  That 
this  might  be,  He  would  Himself  come  down  into  lapsed 
humanity,  by  the  incarnation  of  His  substantial  Word ; 
and  would  thus,  by  becoming  man,  make  man  His  temple. 

Many  ages  elapsed  before  the  accomplishment  of  this 
gracious  purpose.  The  human  race  had  sunk  so  low  in 
moral  depravity  that  "their  foolish  heart  w^as  darkened;" 
they  could  not  understand  nor  recognize  the  joresence  of 
God  among  them,  till  they  had  been  carried  through  a 
long  course  of  special  training.  It  vras  necessary  that 
men  should  be  brought  to  think  of  God  as  dwelling  per- 
sonally on  earth.  That  was  the  purport  of  the  whole 
ceremonial  institute  of  Moses.  The  design  of  the  taber- 
nacle, and  afterwards  of  the  temple,  was  typical  and  pro- 
phetic. It  implied  that  God  no  longer  dwelt  in  the  hearts 
of  men ;  that  they  could  not  approach  His  throne  or  look 
upon  His  face  and  live ;  and  that  no  access  could  be  had 
to  His  presence  except  in  some  way  opened  by  His  sover- 
eign good  pleasure.  At  the  end  of  the  temple,  beyond 
the  awful  veil,  according  to  the  conception  of  the  Jew, 

*  Revelations  xviii.  2 


PURIFICATION    OF    THE    TEMPLE.  177 

dwelt  JEHOVAH  in  darkness  and  solitude.  None  mig-ht 
api3roach  Him  there  except  the  consecrated  High  Priest, 
and  he  only  at  long  intervals.  And  all  this  was  a  type 
of  good  things  to  come.  That  temple  Avas  a  shadowy 
prophecy  of  the  incarnation  of  God.  It  was  a  definite 
type  of  the  body  of  Christ.  That  was  its  real  and  exclu- 
sive significance.  The  temple  was,  from  the  first,  intended 
to  represent  and  foreshow  the  personal  incarnation  of  the 
eternal  Son  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

Thus  then  the  m.eaning  of  our  Lord's  words — "  Destroy 
this  temple  and  I  will  raise  it  up  in  three  days,"  becomes 
apparent.  The  words  evidently  bear  a  two-fold  meaning — 
a  meaning  within  a  meaning.  The  Jews  had  challenged 
Jesus  to  give  them  a  sign  :  He  meets  their  challenge  with 
another,  '•  Destroy  ye  this  temple  and  I  will  raise  it  up  in 
three  days.  That  is  to  say,  I  have  absolute  power  over 
the  temple  ;  level  it  with  the  dust,  and  I  will  rebuild  it  in 
three  days."  They  understood  it  as  a  profane  boast ;  but 
it  was  a  saying  which  enveloped  in  the  literal  sense  a 
wondrous  inner  meaning.  The  Jews  did  not  accept  His 
challenge ;  they  did  not  destroy  their  temj)le,  which  was 
but  a  shadow  of  the  true ;  but  the  latter — the  temple  of 
the  Lord's  body,  they  did  break  down  and  destroy,  when 
they  crucified  Him.  And  He  kept  His  w^ord — He  gave 
the  promised  sign,  when  He  rose  from  the  dead. 

The  risen  and  glorified  body  of  Christ  became  the  living 

corner-stone  of  the  mighty  spiritual  temple,  the  church, 

thence  called  "  Plis  body,  the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth 

all  in  all."     The  words  of  Jesus  apply,  in  their  widest 

scope,  to  this  also.     The  temple  of  Jerusalem  stood  for 

the  Old  Covenant  theocracy.     Destroy  ye  this  temple,  this 

economy — this  church  of  the  Old  Covenant,  and  I  trill 

restore  it  under  a  new  and  more  glorious  form,  in  three 

days.     The  Jews  did,  in  fact,  destroy  the  temple,  in  that 

sense  ; — that  is  to  say,  they  put  an  end  to  the  theocracy — 
12 


178  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

when  they  crucified  the  Lord;  but  He  rebuilt  it  in  His 
resurrection;  for  the  church  of  the  New  Covenant, — 
wdiich  Avas  the  theocracy  transfigured, — began  to  exist 
when  its  living  Head  came  forth  from  the  sepulchre. 
,  Though  our  Lord  refused  to  show  a  sign  in  the  temple, 
He  wrought  many  miracles  in  Jerusalem  during  the  feast ; 
and  many,  convinced  of  His  divine  authority,  became  His 
disciples.  Wherever  He  went,  He  was  a  living  fountain 
of  healing  virtue ;  and  "  the  Life  was  the  light  of  men." 
Disease  and  spiritual  darkness  retreated  from  the  sphere 
of  His  personal  presence. 


CHAPTER    V. 
JESUS   AND   NICODEMUS. 

o«CNERAL  ATTENTION  DIRECTED  TO  JESUS — ANTIPATHY  OF  THE  LEADING 
CLASSES — EARNEST  INTEREST  OF  THE  JEW— NICODEMUS — HIS  TIMIDITY 
AND  DISTANCE  WITH  REGARD  TO  JESUS — HIS  INWARD  DESIRE  FOR  A 
CONFERENCE  WITH  HIM — HIS  FEELINGS  AS  HE  GOES  TO  MEET  JESUS — 
HIS    OPENING    ADDRESS    AND    THE    REPLY    OF   JESUS — SIGNIFICANCE    OF 

OUR    lord's    reply — PERPLEXITY   OF  NICODEMUS  AS  TO  ITS  MEANING 

HIS  CAVILING  REJOINDER — ANSWER  OF  JESUS — ITS  FORCE  AS  REGARDS 
REGENERATION — ITS  SIGNIFICANCE  WITH  REGARD  TO  BAPTISM — SPECIAL 
OBJECT  OF  JESUS  IN  INSISTING  ON  BAPTISM,  IN  THE  CASE  OF  NICODE- 
MUS— OUR  lord's  FURTHER  CONSIDERATION  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  BIRTH 

INCREDULITY  OF  NICODEMUS — OUR  LORD  REBUKES  HIS  IGNORANCE 
AND   SCEPTICISM — CLOSE    OF    THE    CONFERENCE. 

The  events  narrated  in  the  last  chapter  undoubtedly 
caused  a  great  excitement  at  Jerusalem.  The  purification 
of  the  temple,  in  the  midst  of  the  great  Passover  festival, 
singularly  bold  and  public  as  it  was, — was  peculiarly  fitted 
to  draw  the  attention  of  the  nation  and  of  the  world  to 
Jesus.  The  miracles  that  followed,  some  of  which  were 
probably  wrought  in  public,  were  doubtless  noised  abroad, 
and  thus  added  to  the  excitement.  Hence,  before  the 
close  of  the  Passover  week,  the  new  prophet  from  Galilee 
became  the  object  of  general  curiosity.  There  is  reason 
to  believe  that  some  had  come  to  feel  a  deep  and  solemn 
interest  in  Him.  The  chief  men  among  the  Jews,  how- 
ever,—  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  priests  and  rulers, — 
began  to  look  upon  Him  with  a  suspicion  already  passing 
into  settled  hostility.  Although  He  had  not  publicly  as- 
sailed them,  they  felt  that  He  was  not  of  them ;  and  we 


180  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

know  that  sects  and  hierarchies  are  both  jealous  and  in- 
tolerant of  those  who  dare  to  think  and  act  with  consci- 
entious independence.  Nevertheless,  they  did  not  as  yet 
openly  oppose  Him,  partly  because  He  was,  to  all  appear- 
ance, a  strict  observer  of  the  law,  and  partly  because  the 
belief  was  rapidly  gaining  ground  among  the  common 
people,  that  He  was  a  true  prophet.  What  they  did, 
therefore,  was  to  keep  aloof  from  Him,  and  give  Him  no 
countenance. 

There  were,  however,  some  devout  and  candid  persons 
of  the  highest  rank,  who  felt  attracted  to  Christ.  They 
were  waiting  for  the  kingdom  of  God ;  and,  though  their 
conception  of  that  kingdom  was  low  and  carnal,  they 
hailed  with  joy  every  sign  of  its  approach.  The  preach- 
ing of  John  the  Baptist  had  been  to  them  a  welcome  sig- 
nal of  the  Messiah's  coming;  and  now,  the  sudden  ap- 
pearance of  this  new  prophet,  working  mighty  miracles, 
was  a  manifestation  of  God's  purpose  speedily  to  visit  his 
people.  Yet,  for  the  most  part,  they  cherished  these  hopes 
and  aspirations  in  their  own  hearts,  being  afraid  as  yet,  to 
commit  themselves  to  what  might  prove  a  delusion.  Be- 
sides this  they  stood  in  fear  of  their  colleagues  and  fellow 
sectaries,  many  of  whom  were  decided  in  their  hostility 
to  Jesus. 

Such  a  man  was  the  Pharisee,  Nicodemus,  a  member 
of  the  Sanhedrim,  and  a  teacher  of  Israel,*  standing  there- 
fore in  the  highest  rank.  He  Avas  wealthy  and  honorable, 
and  revered  for  his  sanctity  and  Avisdom.f     Though  we 

*  Nicodemus  has  by  some  been  identified  with  a  certain  Nicodemus  Ben 
Gorion  of  the  Talmud,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim  at  this  time. 
See  Smith's  Bible  Dictionary,  in  loco. 

t Nicodemus  is  called  by  Jesus,  "the  teacher  of  Israel,"  which  may  be, 
according:  to  Erasmus,  Winer,  and  Lanjje,  a  rhetorical  use  of  the  definite 
article.  SchoU,  however,  identifies  him  with  tlie  "  Wise  Man  "  who  sat  at 
the  left  hand  of  the  President  in  the  Sanhedrim.  See  Lange's  "  Life  of  Christ," 
volumu  2,  pages  31.3,  314,  note. 


NICODEMUS.  181 

have  no  notices  of  his  previous  Ufe,  we  shall  do  him  no 
injustice  if  we  ascribe  to  him  the  opinions,  prejudices,  and 
modes  of  thought,  inseparable  from  his  sect  and  position. 
He  doubtless  prided  himself  on  his  descent  from  Abraham, 
and  on  the  dignities  and  privileges  to  which  that  descent 
entitled  him.  He  was  looking  for  a  Messiah  who  should 
re-establish  in  outward  glory  the  fallen  theocracy ;  and 
that  Messiah  he  believed  to  be  at  hand.  His  worldly  view 
was,  doubtless,  somewhat  modified  and  elevated  by  spirit- 
ual longings  for  a  kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace. 
In  Jesus,  Nicodemus  recognized,  if  not  the  Messiah,  at 
least  a  true  prophet.  But  he  was  deeply  entangled  in 
the  perverted  Messianic  notions  of  his  generation.  He 
was,  moreover,  a  timid  man ;  and  to  approach  the  youth- 
ftil  rabbi  of  Nazareth  in  public,  would  not  only  compromise 
his  reputation  as  a  teacher,  but  would  draw  upon  him  the 
suspicion,  perhaps  the  active  hostility  of  his  associates  of 
the  Sanhedrim,  and  of  the  bigoted  sect  to  which  he  be- 
longed. He,  consequently,  avoided  any  direct  approach 
to  the  young  Galilean  stranger,  and  only  heard  Him  in 
public  as  one  of  the  excited  multitude  that  witnessed  His 
miracles  and  listened  to  His  wonderful  sayings. 

And  yet  this  was  not  enough.  With  all  his  misgiving 
as  to  the  mission  of  Jesus,  and  his  fear  of  losing  caste, 
this  learned  scribe,  this  "  Master  in  Israel,"  was  unable  to 
remain  thus  at  a  distance  as  a  mere  speculative  observer. 
He  was  profoundly  interested  and  moved,  and  longed  for 
an  opportunity  to  open  his  heart  to  Jesus,  and  to  receive 
from  His  lips  more  full  and  definite  instruction.  And 
Jesus,  who  was  always  tender  of  the  very  infirmities  of 
earnest  and  candid  inquirers,  and  who  had  divined  his 
feelings  and  wishes,  gave  him  the  desired  opportunity. 

And,  so  Nicodemus,  probably  by  appointment,  came  to 
Jesus  hy  night  The  visitor,  as  he  passed  through  the 
deserted  streets,  must    have   felt  himself  agitated  with 


182  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHUIST. 

strange  and  conflicting  emotions.  Perhaps  some  such 
train  of  thought  as  the  following  swept  through  his 
troubled  mind : — "  I  hope  this  night  to  learn  something 
about  that  glorious  kingdom  of  which  David,  Isaiah,  Dan- 
iel, Haggai,  and  Zechariah  prophesied.  Long  has  the 
chosen  nation  been  opf)ressed  and  down-trodden ;  long 
has  the  Holy  City  been  insulted  and  desecrated  by  the 
presence  and  tyranny  of  the  haughty  Roman ;  long  has 
the  prayer  been  going  up  from  innumerable  longing  hearts 
"thy  kingdom  come;"  just  now,  John  the  baptizer  pro- 
claims that  the  Messiah  is  at  hand  ;  nay,  that  He  is  already 
come.  0  that  He  would  manifest  Himself  to  Israel !  0 
that  He  would  ascend  the  throne  of  David,  expel  the  god- 
less oppressors  of  the  holy  seed,  and  reign  in  righteousness 
and  glory  on  Mount  Zion  !  0  Lord,  how  long  ?  When, 
when  w^ill  He  appear  ?  I  have  waited  and  longed  till  my 
heart  is  sick  and  weary.  Perhaps  this  youthful  Galilean, 
who  is  certainly  a  proj^het  and  teacher  sent  from  God,  will 
give  rest  and  satisfaction  to  my  agitated  soul.  What  if 
He  Himself  is  our  long  expected  King  ?  There  is  in  Him 
an  unearthly  majesty,  a  divine  repose  and  authority  which 
one  would  expect  to  see  in  the  Messiah.  Yet,  how  can  it 
be  ? — Messiah  comes  from  Bethlehem,  and  this  man  is  from 
Nazareth"  Thus  meditating,  as  is  probable,  Nicodemus 
reaches  the  place  where  Jesus  awaits  his  coming. 

The  conversation  is  opened  by  the  visitor.  ''  Rabbi,  we 
know  that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God ;  for  no  man 
can  do  these  miracles  that  thou  doest,  except  God  be  with 
Him."  *  It  must  be  confessed  that  therci  is  somewhat  too 
much  of  patronizing  courtesy  in  this  address.  Nicodemus 
is  rather  too  conscious  of  his  importance  as  a  ruler  and 
teacher,  and  of  the  dignity  of  the  class  to  which  he  be- 
longs.    He  seems  to  speak  for  that  class,  and  to  assure 

*  John  iii.  2. 


NICODEMUS.  183 

Jesus  of  their  favorable  disposition  towards  Him.  Yet  he 
was  not  insincere ;  and  what  he  said  was  his  apology  for 
coming.  He  really  believed  in  Jesus  as  a  divinely  author- 
ized teacher;  and  his  acknowledgment  was  intended  to 
prepare  the  way  for  certain  questions  which  he  was  long- 
ing to  ask.  His  heart  was  full  of  the  kingdom  of  God ; 
but  he  deemed  it  indecorous  to  introduce  the  subject  ab- 
ruptly. Our  Lord,  who  knew  what  was  in  his  heart,  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  answer  his  thoughts  rather  than  his 
words :  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  except  a  man  be 
born  again,"  [or  from  above,)  "he  cannot  see  the  kingdom 
of  God."* 

Jesus  saw  that  His  aged  interlocutor  was  so  firmly  rooted 
in  the  soil  of  legal  Avorldliness,  that  he  could  not  be  won 
to  the  truth  by  didactic  discourse.  So  he  shattered  his 
pharisaic  pride  and  self-righteousness  by  a  sudden  light- 
ning-stroke. As  if  He  had  said ;  "  Nicodemus,  you  have 
come  to  inquire  concerning  the  kingdom  of  God,  of  which 
you  regard  yourself  as  a  citizen  and  heir ;  but  I,  the  true 
and  faithful  Witness,  assure  you  that  the  nature  of  God's 
kingdom  is  such  that  no  man — not  merely  no  Gentile,  but 
no  man — not  even  a  child  of  Abraham,  can  discern,  much 
less  possess  it,  unless  he  is  new-born  from  above." 

Nicodemus  was  startled  and  perplexed.  The  idea  of  a 
new  birth  was  not  indeed  new  to  him  ;  for,  when  a  Gentile 
proselyte  was  received  into  the  Old-Covenant  church,  he 
was  said  to  be  born  again ;  just  as  we  say  of  a  foreigner 
who  becomes  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  he  is  riatural- 
ized;  that  is  to  say,  he  is  made  a  native  citizen.  But  what 
meaning  should  we  attach  to  the  words  of  one  who  should 
say ;  "  No  man,  not  even  a  native  American,  can  become 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States  without  being  naturalized  ? 
Just  as  little  meaning  could  Nicodemus  attach  to  the  say- 

*  John  iii.  3. 


184  THE    LIFE    OF    CHFJST. 

ing  of  our  Lord  concerning  tlie  necessity  of  a  new  birth, 
in  order  to  admission  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  He  re- 
garded himself  as  an  heir  of  that  kingdom  by  virtue  of 
his  descent  from  Abraham;  he  was  not  an  aHen,  but  a 
natural  citizen  ;  how  then  could  he  be  naturalized  ?  How 
could  he,  by  birth  and  circumcision  a  member  of  the  the- 
ocratic nation,  be  born  again?  Perhaps,  too,  he  was 
slightly  irritated  at  being  told  abruptly  that  he,  the  wise 
ruler  and  teacher,  the  devout  Pharisee,  stood  in  need  of 
a  change  so  radical  as  a  new  birth  clearly  unplied. 

Too  shrewd  and  self-collected,  however,  to  be  thrown 
entirely  off  his  guard,  Nicodemus  resorted  to  his  rabbini- 
cal dialectics,  and  attempted  to  show  that  the  requirement 
of  Jesus  was  absurd  and  extravagant.  "  How,"  said  he, 
"can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old?  Can  he  enter  the 
•second  time  into  his  mother's  Avomb  and  be  born?"* 
This  was  assuredly  a  wilful  misunderstanding  of  our  Lord's 
words, — a  misapprehension  affected  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment. "You  certainly  do  not  mean  to  be  understood 
literally ;  but  what  else  you  can  mean  I  cannot  under- 
stand. Why  and  how  a  Jew  must  be  born  again,  in  order 
to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  Messiah's  kingdom,  is  beyond 
my  comprehension." 

Without  suffering  Himself  to  "be  discomposed  m  the 
least,  by  this  unmeaning  cavil,  Jesus  answers,  "Yerily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  except  a  man  be  born  of  water 
and  of  the  Spirit,  he  can  not  -enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God."t  Thus  He  teaches  Nicodemus  that  the  new  birth 
of  which  He  is  speaking  is  not  an  external  and  relative 
change,  but  internal  and  spiritual,  though  outwardly  rep- 
resented by  a  sacramental  sign.  "  That  which  is  born  of 
the  flesh,"  He  continues,  is  "  flesh ;  and  that  which  is  Ijorn 
of  the  spirit  is  spirit."  $ 

*  John  iii.  4.  ^John  iii.  5.  if  John  iii.  6. 


NICODEMUS.  185 

The  language  of  our  Lord  is  to  this  effect :  Every  act 
of  generation  involves  an  impartation  of  life.  But  noth- 
ing can  impart  a  kind  of  life  which  it  does  not  itself 
possess  ;  that  which  is  begotten  bears  the  nature  of  that 
which  begat  it.  Nothing  can  s-pring  from  the  natural 
sensuous  life,  ei:cept  what  is  natural  and  sensuous.  The 
flesh,  corrupt  and  perishable,  can  not  generate  a  life  which 
is  spiritual  and  immortal.  This  must  come  from  spirit. 
Man  can  not  therefore  originate  the  spiritual  life  in  him- 
self; but  he  must  be  born  from  ahove,^'  that  is  to  say,  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  None  can  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God, 
to  whom  the  incarnate  Word,  through  the  spirit,  does  not 
imjiart  a  principle  of  spiritual  life,  different  in  kind  from 
the  life  of  nature,  and  above  it.  "  Since  Christ  represents 
this  new  birth  as  indispensable,  in  doing  so  he  marks  the 
relation  in  which  the  man  who  is  not  yet  filled  with  the 
life  of  Christ,  stands  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  attains 
it  not  by  his  theological  science,  nor  by  his  logical  deduc- 
tions ;  he  has  it  not  in  his  religious  energy.  It  is  a  new 
creation  from  heaven,  which  must  bury  his  old  life  in  its 
consecrated  stream  in  order  to  give  liim  a  new  life, — a 
mystery  of  life  in  which  he  must  become  a  subject  of  the 
formative  power  of  divine  grace,  like  an  unborn  child. 
The  more  he  anticipates  this  creative  power,  yearns  for  it, 
and  humbly  receives  it  into  his  life,  so  much  nearer  is  he 
to  the  kingdom  of  God."  f  The  new  life  is  .developed  in 
the  regenerate  soul  as  a  principle  of  holiness,  of  fiiith, 
hope,  love,  obedience ;  as  a  mortifying,  cleansing  power, 
overcoming  and  extirpating  sinful  affections  and  propen- 
sities, purifying  and  consecrating  the  very  body,  and  pre- 
serving both  soul  and  body  to  life  everlasting. 

Thus  men  are  born  of  the  spirit;  but  how  are  they 
"born  of  water,  and  why?"      These  words,  which  have 

*aus:Ocv      See  Alford,  in  loco.         jLange's  "Life  of  Christ,"  vol.  2,  p.  312. 


186  TUE    LIFE    OF    CIlllIST. 

furnislied  matter  for  endless  theological  controversy, 
plainly  refer  to  Christian  baptism.  Our  Lord  declares 
that  a  two-fold  regeneration  is  necessary,  answerable  to 
the  two-fold  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  That  king- 
dom is  outward  and  visible,  as  well  as  internal  and  spirit- 
ual. It  is  externalized  in  visible  ordinances  and  a  visible 
church.  A  man  can  only  enter  this  two-fold  kingdom,  by 
being  born  both  of  the  spirit  and  of  water.  He  must  be 
born  of  the  spirit,  because  the  kingdom  is  righteousness, 
peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost;  he  must  be  born  of 
water,  because  the  same  kingdom  is  a  visible  community 
of  saints,  joined  together  by  outward  rites  and  sacra- 
ments as  well  as  by  the  same  indwelling  spirit.  "  Water 
baptism  signifies  entrance  into  the  true  theocratic  society ; 
and  this  society  was  constituted  by  Christ  to  be  the  his- 
torical foundation  and  main  condition  of  the  operations  of 
His  spirit,  which  presuppose  the  community  that  has  been 
collected  round  the  name  of  Christ,  acknowledges  His 
word,  and  is  distinguished  from  the  impure  world  by  its 
public,  common  purification.  With  his  entrance  into  the 
new  society  by  baptism,  he  dies  to  the  old  world  and  re- 
nounces its  vain  pomps  and  godless  spirit,  and  enters  into 
the  divinely  appointed  conditions  wdiich  are  requisite  to 
the  development  of  the  life  engendered  in  him  by  the 
Holy  Ghost."  *  Thus  he  is  born  of  water.  Spiritual  re- 
generation and  regeneration  by  water  are,  however,  not 
necessarily  connected  in  respect  to  time,  much  less  causa- 
tion. The  Saviour  does  not  ascribe  to  water-baptism  a 
magical  or  miraculous  efficacy  by  which  the  soul  is 
renewed  ;  He  ascribes  the  inward  quickening  only  to  an 
immediate  divine  energy. 

There  was  a  special  reason  why  Jesus  insisted  on  the 
necessity  of  baptism  to  Nicodemus.     He   had   come   se- 

*Lange's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  volume  2,  pages  310,  311. 


NICODEMUS.  187 

cretly,  hy  night,  hoping  perhaps  that  Christ,  on  account 
of  his  high  position  and  the  services  he  had  it  in  his 
power  to  render,  would  exempt  him  from  a  pubHo  avowal 
of  his  faith.  This  hope  was  at  once  annihilated  by  the 
abrupt  declaration  that  there  was  no  way  into  the  king- 
dom of  God  but  through  baptism.*  Christ  would  ac- 
knowledge no  man  as  his  disciple  who  did  not  openly 
confess  Him  before  the  world. 

Poor  Nicodemus  1  his  rabbinical  wisdom  is  confounded  ; 
his  Pharisaical  pride  is  humbled ;  his  timidit}^  is  rebuked. 
He  sits  in  speechless  amazement  and  distress.  "  Marvel 
not,"  said  Jesus,  pressing  the  thought  further,  "  Marvel 
not,  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born  again.  The 
wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound 
thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  and  whither 
it  goeth ;  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  spirit."  f 
Probably  the  night-wind  was  at  that  moment  moaning 
round  the  place  where  they  were  sitting.  Jesus,  in  effect, 
says  to  Nicodemus,  "  What  I  have  said  strikes  you  as  mys- 
terious, and  you  are  tempted  for  that  reason  to  reject  it. 
But  do  you  hear  the  wind  without  ?  Though  you  know 
not  its  origin,  or  the  laws  of  its  movements,  you  believe 
in  its  re«-lity.  Why  then  do  you  wonder  that  the  spirit, 
that  free,  life-giving  air  from  heaven,  that  breath  of  God, 
should  be  equally  mysterious  ?  Can  you  understand  the 
way  of  the  spirit  ?  Can  you  fathom  his  energy  in  the 
regeneration  of  souls?" 

Nicodemus  is  still,  not  incredulous  perhaps,  but  stupefied 
with  wonder.  "  How  can  these  things  be  ?"  t  he  exclaims. 
He  feels  himself  destitute  of  that  spiritual  life  which  has 
been  described;  he  would  fain  experience  the  heavenly 
quickening,  but  he  trembles  at  the  thought  "whether 
such  a  spring-storm  of  awakening  spiritual  life  can  possibly 


Ecce  Homo,  pages  97,  98.  t  John  vii.  8.  |John  iii.  9. 


188  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

pass  through  his  aged  breast."  *  Jesus,  instead  of  at  once 
speaking  words  of  encouragement  and  comfort,  strikes 
him  with  another  tliunder-bolt  which  must  have  utterly 
shattered  his  pride  and  self-righteousness.  "Art  thou  a 
master  of  Israel  (or  rather,  the  teacher  of  Israel),  and 
knowest  not  these  things?  Verih',  verily,  I  say  unto 
thee,  we  speak  that  we  do  know,  and  testify  that  we  have 
seen,  and  ye  receive  not  our  witness.  If  I  have  told  you 
earthly  things  and  ye  believe  not,  how  shall  ye  believe  if  I 
tell  you  of  heavenly  things  ?  And  no  man  hath  ascended 
up  to  heaven  but  He  that  came  down  from  heaven,  even 
the  Son  of  Man  who  is  in  heaven.  And  as  Moses  lifted 
up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of 
Man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should 
not  perish  but  have  eternal  life."t 

These  sublime  words  seem  to  have  closed  the  interview. 
Nicodemus  returned  to  his  own  house,  meditating  on  what 
he  had  heard.  The  germ  of  living  truth  had  been  planted 
in  his  heart ;  and  at  length  the  timid  and  conservative,  but 
candid  and  noble  inquirer,  found  courage  openly  to  profess 
his  faith  in  the  crucified  Nazarene. 


*Lange's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  vol.  2,  page  31S  t  John  xi.  15. 


CHAPTER    VI. 
JOHN  AND   HIS   DISCIPLES,  ON   OUR  LORD'S   BAPTIZING. 

JESUS    LEAVES  JERUSALEM  AXD  BAPTIZES — JOHX  AT    ENON — HIS    DISCIPLES 
TAKE    OFFENCE    AT   OUR    LOKD'S     BAPTIZING — JOHN'S    REPLY     TO    THEIR 

OBJECTIONS — John's  testimony  to  the  divinity  of  jesus — he  cor- 
rects THE  exaggeration  OF  HIS  DISCIPLES — HE  CONTINUES  HIS 
TESTIMONY  TO  THE  DIVINE  MISSION  AND  AUTHORITY  OF  JESUS — OUR 
lord's    baptism    and    THAT    OF   JOHN    COMPARED. 

How  long  our  Lord  tarried  at  Jerusalem  after  His  con- 
versation with  Nicodemus,  we  can  not  certainly  determine. 
Probably  He  left  Jerusalem  soon  after  the  close  of  the 
Passover  week.  The  presumption  is,  also,  that  Pie  Avent 
directly  into  a  rural  district  of  Judea,  not  far  from  the 
borders  of  Samaria.  Some  suppose  that  He  returned  to 
Galilee,  and  spent  several  months  in  retirement ;  but  of 
this  there  is  no  evidence  whatever. 

John  was  at  this  time  baptizing  at  Enon,  near  Salim 
identified  by  Jerome  and  most  modern  scholars  with  the 
ancient  Salumnias,  in  the  valley  of  the  Jordan.  If  this 
is  correct,  the  large-hearted  Baptist,  though  a  prophet  of 
the  old  covenant  and  a  preacher  of  the  law,  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  exercise  his  ministry  within  the  limits  of  Samaria. 
He  had  taken  up  his  abode  there  for  a  short  period,  be- 
cause it  was  a  place  of  much  water,  and  therefore  conven- 
ient for  baptizing.  He  had  now  been  preaching  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  baptizing  unto  repentance  for  about 
a  year,  and  he  still  prosecuted  his  work,  faithfully  '^  fulfill- 
ing his  course."     Thousrh  he  knew  that  the  Messiah  had 


190  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

come,  and  tlioiii^li  there  had  been,  of  late,  a  fallins:  off  of 
the  muhitudes  who  had  come  flocking  to  him  Avherever 
he  went,  he  did  not  pause  in  his  labors  : — he  had  received 
no  discharge  from  Him  whose  prophet  he  was. 

In  the  meantime,  the  noblest  and  most  enlightened 
of  his  disciples  had,  in  accordance  with  his  instructions, 
attached  themselves  to  another  and  greater  Teacher. 
There  were,  however,  others  of  John's  disciples  who  were 
strongly  attached  to  him,  and  who  were  therefore  impa- 
tient of  any  ajDparent  rivalry  of  their  master,  or  decUne 
of  his  popularity.  These  learned  with  some  irritation 
that  Jesus  was  preaching  and  baptizing  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  that  all  the  people  were  flocking  to  Him.  Their 
jealousy,  thus  excited,  was  heightened  by  a  dispute  ^vith 
a  certain  Jew,*  who  seemed  to  give  the  preference  to  the 
2mr[fijing  or  baptism  of  Jesus.  Full  of  indignation,  they 
came  to  their  master  with  the  complaint :  "■  Rabbi,  He 
that  was  with  thee  beyond  Jordan,  to  whom  thou  barest 
witness,  the  same  baptizeth  and  all  men  come  to  Him."  f 
They  thought  their  master  was  wronged ;  they  intimated 
that  Jesus  was  his  disciple,  and  ought  not  to  have  led 
what  looked  like  a  rival  movement;  and  they  expected, 
perhaps,  that  John  would  sympathize  with  them  in  their 
resentment. 

In  this  they  were  disappointed,  They  did  not  under- 
stand the  noble,  unselfish  spirit  of  the  Baptist.  His  reply 
is  altogether  beautiful:  "A  man  can  receive  nothing  un- 
less it  be  given  him  from  heaven." t  "All  comes  to  pass," 
says  he  "  by  divine  appointment.  No  man  can  go  beyond 
the  limits  of  his  commission  from  God ;  I  can  not  there- 
fore arrogate  to  myself  what  God  has  not  given  me ;  and 

*  The  most  authentic  Greek  text  requires  the  singular    rather  than  the 
plural. 

t  John  iii.  26. 

t  John  iii.  27. 


JOHX    OX    OUR   lord's    BAPTIZING.  191 

the  growing  influence  of  Jesus  proclaims  His  divine  call- 
ing."* "Ye  yourselves  bear  me  witness  that  1  said,"  (at 
Bethabai-a,  in  answer  to  the  messengers  of  the  Sanhedrim) : 
"  I  am  not  the  Christ,  but  that  I  am  sent  before  Him,"  f 
namely,  Jesus.t  "He  that  hath  the  bride  is  the  bride- 
groom ;  but  the  friend  of  the  bridegroom,  w^hich  standeth 
and  heareth  him,  rejoiceth  greatly  because  of  the  bride- 
groom's voice  :  this  my  joy  therefore  is  fulfilled."§  "As  the 
friend  of  the  bridegroom,"  he  would  say,  "  I  have  prepared 
the  marriage  feast;  I  have  led  the  Church  of  God,  the 
bride,  to  Him.  I  now  witness,  not  with  envy,  but  rather 
with  joy,  the  glorious  union  ;  and  I  enter  into  the  happi- 
ness of  the  bridegroom,  as  His  voice  gives  assurance  that 
my  mission  is  happily  completed."  "He  must  increase, 
but  I  must  decrease."  ||  "  My  mission  is  almost  ended ; 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  will  be  more  and  mor^ 
transferred  to  Him ;  He  will  become  more  and  more  the 
centre  of  interest,  while  I  shall  retire  into  obscurity." 

And  now  the  full  inspiration  of  the  greatest  of  the 
prophets  breaks  forth  in  ever-memorable  words :  "'  He 
that  Cometh  from  above  is  above  all ;  he  that  «is  of  the 
earth  is  earthly  and  speaketh  of  the  earth;  He  that 
Cometh  from  heaven  is  above  all."^  The  Baptist  con- 
fesses that  he  is,  in  comparison  with  Christ,  earthly- 
minded  ;  and  that  even  his  prophetic  illumination  is 
dimmed  by  earthly  vapors,  and  is  but  darkness  compared 
with  the  clear  intuition  of  Him  who  comes  from  heaven 
to  be  the  Light  of  the  world.     Turning,  now,  to  his  disci- 

*  See  Alford,  Neander,  Wetstein,  in  loco, 
t  John  iii   28. 

i  The  reference  of  Him  is  not  to  the  Messiah  in  general,  but  to  Jesus  in 
particukr.     See  Alford. 
§John  iii   29. 
II  John  iii   30. 
IT  John  iii   31. 


192  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIllIST. 

pies,  who  had,  through  envj,  exaggerated  the  number  of 
those  who  came  to  Christ's  baptism,  John,  through  love, 
rims  into  an  opposite  exaggeration  :*  "And  what  lie  hath 
seen  and  heard  that  He  testiiietli,  and  no  man  receiveth 
His  testimony."!  Did  you  say  all  men  come  to  Hhnf 
Have,  then,  the  priests  and  rulers,  the  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees believed  in  Him  ?  Nay,  the  nation  already  rejects 
Hun.  And  among  those  who  come  to  Him,  few,  if  any, 
are  qualified  to  receive  His  heavenly  testimony  in  its 
purity.  Continuing  his  eulogy,  John  adds :  "  He  that 
receiveth  His  testimony  hath  set  ic  his  seal  that  God  is 
true.  For  He  whom  God  hath  sent  speaketh  the  words 
of  God ;  for  God  giveth  the  Spirit  not  by  measure  unto 
Him.  The  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  hath  given  all 
things  into  His  hand.  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son 
hath  everlasting  life;  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Sou 
shall  not  see  life;  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  Him."  J 
This  denunciation  of  the  BajDtist  is  the  last  utterance  of 
the  old  covenant, — the  final  peal  of  thunder  from  Mount 
Sinai.§  It  is  the  last  prophetic  word  of  the  lowly  and 
austere,  Ijtit  humble,  self-sacrificing  forerunner  and  friend 
of  the  Divine  Bridegroom. 

The  question  has  been  raised,  whether  the  baptism 
administered  by  Jesus  during  this  period  of  His  ministry, 
was  in  its  nature  identical  with  that  of  John.  It  must 
certainly  be  distinguished  from  the  baptism  instituted 
after  His  resurrection,  which  Avas  a  baptism  into  the  name 
of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
was  more  a  sacrament  of  faith  than  of  repentance.  It 
can  scarcely  be  supposed,  either,  that  Jesus  baptized  into 


*Sec  De  Ligny's  (Jesuit)  "  Life  of  Christ,"  page  61. 

t  John  iii.  32. 

t  John  iii.  34-07. 

§  Lange's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  volume  2,  page  332. 


JOHN    ON    OUK    lord's    BAPTIZING.  193 

His  own  name  as  the  Messiah ;  for  this  was  a  character 
tliat  He  did  not  publicly  assume,  but  rather  concealed  till 
a  much  later  stage  of  His  ministry.  This  early  baptism, 
which  seems  to  have  lasted  only  a  few  weeks,  and  which, 
during  that  period,  was  only  administered  by  the  hands 
of  His  disciples,  was  undoubtedly  like  John's, — a  prepara- 
tory ordinance,  corresponding  to  the  great  burden  of 
preaching, — "Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand."  As  long  as  the  Baptist  and  Christ  were  not 
checked  in  their  ministry,  the  Israelitish  body  politic 
might  be  regarded  as  a  community  making  a  transition 
from  impurity  to  purity.  But  the  Baptist  being  ulti- 
mately imprisoned,  and  the  rulers  and  representatives  of 
the  Jewish  Church  not  coming  to  the  baptism  of  Christ, 
but  rejecting  Him,  the  rite  as  one  of  national  purification 
became  unmeaning  and  useless.  It  seems,  therefore,  to 
have  ceased  from  this  time.* 


*  Andrews'  "  Life  of  Christ,"  pages  159,  164;  also,  Lange's  "  Life  of 
Ciirist,"  vol.  2.  page  329. 


/ 


13 


CHAPTER    VII. 
JESUS  AND  THE  WOMAN   OF  SAMARIA. 


HOSTILITY  OF  THE  PHARISEES  TO  JESUS — HE  LEAVES  JUDEA  FOR  SAMA- 
RIA— DEAN  STANLEY'S  VIEW  OF  THE  COUNTRY VANDEBILDE'S  DE- 
SCRIPTION—  THE  SAMARITANS  AND  THEIR  RELIGION — REASONS  FOR 
THEIR  REVERENCE  FOR  MOUNT  GERIZIM — HOSTILITY  OF  THE  JEWS  TO 
THE  SAMARITANS — RECIPROCAL  HATRED  OF  THE  SAMARITANS — AP- 
PROACH OF  JESUS  TO  SAMARIA — JACOB'S  WELL — JESUS  ASKS  DRINK 
OF  A  SAMARITAN  WOMAN — HIS  REPLY  TO  HER  QUESTION  OF  SURPRISE — ■ 
THE  woman's  RESPONSE  AND  REFERENCE  TO  JACOB-^JESUS  DECLARES 
HIS  DIVINE  SUPERIORITY  OVER  JACOB,  AS  POSSESSING  THE  GIFTS'  OF 
SPIRITUAL  REFRESHING  AND  EVERLASTING  LIFE — THE  FULL  AND  DEEP 
SIGNIFICANCE  OF  HIS  WORDS — THE  WOMAN'S  REQUEST  FOR  LIVING 
"WATER,  AND  JESUS'  REVELATION  OF  ITER  SPIRITUAL  CONDITION — DE 
LIGNY'S  COMMENT  ON  HER  REPLY,"!  HAVE  NO  HUSBAND" — HER  REF- 
ERENCE TO  THE  SAMARITAN  WORSHIP,  AND  THE  JEWS'  EXCLUSIVE- 
NESS — OUR  lord's  REPLY — PECULIAR  ERROR  OF  THE  SAMARITANS — ■ 
COMMON  ERROR  OF  BOTH  JEWS  AND  SAMARITANS — A  SPIRITUAL  WOR- 
SHIP TO  TAKE  THE  PLACE  OF  THE  CEREMONIAL  SYSTEM — THE  WOMAN'S 
QUERY  AS  TO  THE  MESSIAH — JESUS  DECLARES  HIMSELF  TO  BE  THE 
MESSIAH — THE  DISCIPLES  RETURN  AND  ASK  HIM  TO  EAT — JESUS  URGES 
THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  HIS  WORK — THE  REWARD  OF  THE  LABORER — THE 
WOMAN  RETURNS  TO  THE  CITY,  AND  SPREADS  THE  FAME  OF  JESUS — 
HE   PREACHES    THE    WORD    IN    SAMARIA,   AND    MANY   BELIEVE. 

The  Pharisees  had  not  yet  come  to  an  open  rupture 
with  Jesus ;  but  their  suspicions  were  excited,  and  the 
growing  enthusiasm  of  the  common  people  Avho  came  in 
large  numbers  to  His  baptism  alarmed  them.  He  had 
already  become  more  formidable  than  John  the  Baptist 
to  that  powerful  sect.  Aware  that  a  longer  stay  in  Judea 
would  bring  on  a  premature  conflict  with  these  fanatical 
enemies,  which  it  was   His   purpose  for  the  present   to 


JESUS    AND    THE    WOMAN    OF    SAMARIA.  195 

avoid,  Jesus  determined  to  return  to  Galilee.  The  nearest 
and  most  practicable  route  was  through  Samaria.  A 
bigoted  Jew  would  perhaps  have  made  a  detour  through 
Perea,  and  thus  avoided  the  territory  of  the  despised  and 
hated  Samaritans.  Jesus,  however,  Avas  no  bigot,  and, 
besides,  He  had  a  great  work  to  do  among  those  very 
Samaritans ;  hence  He  would  not  turn  aside  from  the 
direct  road. 

The  country  through  which  He  passed  was  the  fairest 
and  most  fruitful  of  central  Palestine.  This  was  espe- 
cially true  of  the  vale  of  Shechem  or  Sychar,  called  by  the 
Greeks,  Neapolis,  and  by  the  modern  Arabs,  Naplous.  "A 
valley,"  says  Dean  Stanle}^,  "  green  with  grass,  gray  with 
olive  gardens  sloping  down  on  each  side ;  fresh  springs 
rushing  down  in  all  directions ;  at  the  end,  a  white  town 
wath  dome-shaped  roofs,  embosomed  in  all  this  verdure, 
lodged  betw^een  the  high  mountains  which  extend  on  each 
side  of  the  valley, — that  on  the  north,  Ebal ;  that  on  the 
south,  Gerizim ; — this  is  the  aspect  of  Naplous." 

"Here,"  says  another  traveler,  "there  is  no  wilderness; 
here  there  are  no  wild  thickets;  3^et  there  is  always  shade, 
not  of  the  oak  or  of  the  terebinth,  but  of  the  olive- 
grove,  so  soft  in  color,  so  picturesque  in  form  that,  for  its 
sake,  we  can  willingly  dispense  with  all  other  wood. 
Here  there  are  no  impetuous  mountain  torrents,  yet 
there  is  water, — water,  too,  in  more  copious  supplies  than 
anywhere  else  in  the  land;  and  it  is  just  to  its  many 
fountains,  rills  and  water-courses,  that  the  valley  owes 
its  exquisite  beauty.  The  exhalations  remain  hovering 
among  the  branches  and  leaves  of  the  olive-trees,  and 
hence  the  lovely  bluish  haze  that  gives  such  a  charm  to 
the  landscape.  The  valley  is  far  from  broad, — in  some 
places  not  exceeding  a  few  hundred  feet.  This  you  find 
generally  enclosed  on  all  sides ;  there,  likewise,  are  the 
vapors  condensed.     And  so  you  advance  under  the  shade 


196  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

of  the  foliage,  along  the  Hving  waters,  and  charmed  by 
the  melody  of  a  host  of  singmg  birds, — for  they,  too, 
know  where  to  find  their  best  quarters, — while  the  per- 
spective fades  away  and  is  lost  in  the  damp  vapory  atmos- 
phere." * 

The  Samaritans,  whom  Jesus  was  about  to  visit,  were 
not  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  but  were  descended  from  a 
colony  that  Esarhaddon,  king  of  Assyria,  had  planted 
there,  after  the  country  had  been  depopulated  by  the 
captivity  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel.  This  colony  finally 
embraced  the  religion  of  Moses ;  and  as,  in  the  course  of 
ages,  many  renegade  and  outcast  Jews  mingled  with 
them,  the}^  at  length  began  to  assert  their  true  and  lineal 
descent  from  Abraham,  through  Jacob  and  Joseph.  Un- 
der the  direction  of  Manasseh,  a  priest  who  had  married 
a  Samaritan  woman, — Sanballat  built  a  temple  on  Mount 
Gerizim,  which  for  two  hundred  years  rivalled  that  at 
Jerusalem.  After  its  destruction  by  the  Asmonean  prince, 
John  Hyrcanus,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  before 
the  time  of  our  Lord,  they  still  continued  to  venerate  the 
mountain  on  Avhich  it  had  stood  ;  and  there,  after  the  lapse 
of  eighteen  hundred  years,  a  feeble  but  interesting  rem- 
nant of  the  race  still  offer  the  paschal  lamb,  and  celebrate 
such  rites  of  the  law  as  their  circumstances  permit. 

For  this  attachment  to  Mount  Gerizim  as  a  place  of 
preeminent  sanctity,  the  Samaritans,  had  many  plausible 
arguments.  Modern  scholars  are  inclining  to  the  convic- 
tion that  this  was  the  mountain  on  which  Melchizedek 
officiated  as  priest  of  the  Most  High,  and  that  the  Salem 
which  lies  a  few  miles  to  the  east  was  the  place  of  his  resi- 
dence. Mount  Gerizim  was  the  first,  spot  on  which  Abra- 
ham halted,  after  he  crossed  the  Jordan,  where  he  rested 


♦Vnnrleljildc,    quoted   by   Stanley,    "Sinai    and    Palestine,"    pages  230 
and  281. 


JESUS    AND    THE    WOMAN    OF    SAMARIA.  197 

and  built  an  altar  to  the  Lord.  There  are  grounds  of 
probability  that  it  was  here,  and  not  on  the  Mount  Moriah 
of  Jerusalem,  that  he  offered  his  son  Isaac.  Here,  un- 
doubtedly, Jacob  pitched  his  tent,  when  he  returned  at 
the  head  of  a  tribe,  rather  than  a  household,  from  Mesopo- 
tamia. He  bought  the  parcel  of  the  field  on  which  he 
first  encamped,  of  Hamor,  Shechem's  father,  and  there  he 
dug  the  famous  well  which  is  to  this  day  a  monument  of 
his  prudence  in  providing  against  the  possible  hostility  of 
the  people  of  the  land.  There  too,  Joseph,  who  by  faith 
"gave  command  concerning  his  bones,"*  was  finally  buried, 
and  his  sepulchre  is  shown  even  in  our  day,  not  far  from 
the  sacred  well.  Shechem  had,  besides,  been  the  capital 
of  the  Ten  Tribes,  and  was  venerated  by  the  whole  nation, 
even  after  the  building  of  Solomon's  temple. 

Between  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans  there  existed  an 
ancient  and  bitter  feud,  which  the  lapse  of  ages  only  ren- 
dered the  more  implacable.  It  had  its  origin  as  far  back 
as  the  return  from  the  Babylonish  captivity.  The  Samar- 
itans had  offered  to  assist  the  Jews  in  rebuilding  the  tem- 
ple, and  were  rather  scornfully  repelled.  This  feeling 
of  dislike  among  the  Jews  had  deepened  into  a  settled 
hatred.  They  treated  the  claim  of  the  Samaritans  to  a 
lineal  descent  from  Abraham  with  contempt,  regarded 
them  as  aliens  and  heathens,  and  always  spoke  of  them 
disparagingly  as  d^  fooliah  i^eojjle  and  no  nation.  The  very 
name  of  their  sacred  city,  Sechem,  or  Sichem,  had  been 
changed  by  Jewish  malice  to  Sycliar,  a  name  which  signi- 
fies the  "  toper  city,"  or  the  "  heathen  city." 

This  animosity  was,  perhaps,  more  than  reciprocated  by 
the  Samaritans.  They  waylaid,  robbed  and  maltreated 
Jewish  pilgrims  who  passed  through  their  territory,  and 
in  every  possible  way  showed  their  contempt  and  hatred 

*  Hebrews  si.  22. 


198  THE    LIFE    OF    CHFJST. 

of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  Not  a  great  while  before 
our  Lord's  visit,  a  Samaritan  had  stolen  into  the  temple 
and  polluted  every  accessible  part  of  it  with  human  bones, 
— than  which  no  act  could  have  awakened  in  the  breast  of 
a  Jew  greater  loathing  and  horror.  This  may  account  in 
part  for  the  fact  that  the  ''Jews  would  have  no  dealings 
with  the  Samaritans." 

Such  were  the  relations  of  the  two  races  when  our  Lord 
entered  the  territory  of  Samaria.  It  was  late  in  autumn, 
an  oppressive  and  sultry  season  in  that  climate.  The  na- 
tives Avere  busily  engaged  in  sowing  their  fields,  which 
were  among  the  most  fertile  in  Palestine.  The  mountains 
were  indeed  sterile  and  bare,  but  there  were  several  val- 
leys of  surpassing  fruitfulness  and  beauty.  Our  Saviour's 
path  lay  through  one  of  these  valleys.  All  the  forenoon 
He  seems  to  have  toiled  over  the  sultry  plain.  About 
noon  He  arrived  at  Jacob's  well.  This  well,  as  already 
intimated,  is  still  in  existence,  and  is  frequently  visited 
by  travelers,  who  at  certain  seasons  find  in  it  a  great 
depth  of  refreshingly  cool  and  pure  water,  though  at 
other  seasons  it  is  quite  dry.  It  is  situated  at  the  mouth 
of  the  charming  though  narrow  valley  between  Mount 
Gerizim  and  Mount  Ebal,  and  is  a  natural  resting-place 
for  dusty  and  toil-worn  travelers  between  Jerusalem  and 
Galilee.  Here  Jesus  sat  down  to  rest,  while  the  discij)les, 
already  somewhat  raised  above  the  prevailing  Jewish 
prejudices,  went  into  the  neighboring  city  to  buy  food. 

Soon  after  their  departure  a  Samaritan  woman,  coming 
perhaps  from,  her  labor  in  the  field,  or  from  her  cottage  in 
the  vicinity,  or  drawn  from  the  city  itself  by  her  liking 
for  the  water  of  this  particular  well,  approached  the  place 
with  her  water-pot.  Jesus,  with  gentle  courtesy,  said  to 
her,  "Give  me  to  drink."  The  woman  perceiving  from 
his  garb  and  speech  that  He  was  of  the  hated  race,  and 
therefore  surprised  at  his  addressing  her  in  a  kind  and 


JESUS    AND    THE    WOMAN    OF    SAMARIA.  199 

respectful  manner,  and  at  his  desire  to  drink  from  the 
vessel  of  a  Samaritan,  answered,  probably  in  a  half-jesting, 
half-sarcfistic  manner,  "How  is  it  that  Thou,  being  a  Jew, 
askest  drink  of  me  who  am  a  woman  of  Samaria?"*  Our 
Lord,  having  excited  her  curiosity  and  wonder,  replies  in 
words  full  of  meaning,  yet  a  little  ambiguous :  "  If  thou 
knewest  the  gift  of  God,  and  who  it  is  that  saith  to  thee 
give  me  to  drink,  thou  wouldst  have  asked  of  Him  and 
He  would  have  given  thee  living  water."! 

At  this  reply  the  woman  must  have  been  perplexed. 
"What  can  He  mean?"  said  she  to  herself  "He  has  just 
begged  water  of  me ;  and  now  He  tells  me  that  He  has 
living  water  to  give  away.  The  water  of  this  well  some- 
times fails :  besides,  He  has  nothing  to  draw  with ;  He 
cannot  mean  this  water;  does  he  then  mean  another 
fountain?"  "Sir,"  said  she,  "this  well  is  very  deep,  and 
Thou  hast  nothing  to  draw  with ;  whence  then  hast  Thou 
that  living  water?  Art  Thou  greater  than  our  father 
Jacob,  who  gave  us  this  well  and  drank  of  it  himself,  and 
his  children  and  his  cattle ?"t  She  feels  that  Jesus  is  no 
ordinary  man ;  but  she  cannot  think  Him  superior  to 
Jacob  who  gave  them  the  water  of  this  well.  He  cannot 
give  better  water  than  Jacob  gave ;  Jacob's  well  against 
all  the  fountains  of  the  world !  Thus  she  stands  for  the 
Samaritan  tradition. 

Jesus  now  draws  her  on  to  a  comparison  between  the 
water  of  this  well  and  that  living  water  which  He  alone 
could  give:  "Whosoever  shall  drink  of  this  water  shall 
thirst  again;  but  whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that 
I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst ;  but  the  water  that  I 
shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing 
up  into  everlasting  life."§  The  poor  woman  knows  that 
something  wonderful  has  been  said.     The  words,  "ever- 

*John  iv.  9.      t  John  iv.  10.      $  John  iv.  11,  12.      §  John  xiii.  14. 


200  THE    LIFE    OF    CUIUST. 

lasting  life "  suddenly  remind  her  of  the  wants  of  her 
eternity;  and  she  is  fast  becoming  conscious  of  a  thirst 
which  no  earthly  fountain  can  quench.  Her  dark  mind 
has  a  dim  perception  of  a  spiritual  meaning ;  but  what  it 
is,  she  cannot  clearly  discern. 

We  can  see  what  she  could  not, — that  when  Jesus 
speaks  of  living  water,  He  means  that  sjoiritual  life  which 
He  came  to  impart  to  men ;  not  water  for  the  toil-worn, 
thirsty  body,  but  water  for  the  longing,  fainting  soul, — 
holiness,  peace,  freedom,  salvation.  "This  gift  of  God 
and  this  living  water  are  nothing  else  than  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  extinguishes  in  souls  the  thirst  after  the  pleasures 
of  sense  and  perishable  goods,  who  deadens  the  ardors  of 
concupiscence,  who  waters  the  aridity  of  the  heart  by  re- 
freshing sentiments  of  piety,  and  who  renders  the  soul 
fruitful  in  good  works :  truly  living  water  in  itself  and  in 
its  eftects,  inasmuch  as  the  Holy  Ghost,  being  life,  gives 
life  to  those  souls  who  receive  Him."*  Nicodemus  re- 
ceives the  promise  of  the  regenerating  Spirit  under  the 
symbol  of  the  blowing  wind,  which  brings  the  fresh,  ver- 
nal life ;  the  woman  of  Sychar  receives  it  under  the 
symbol  of  a  perennial  fountain  springing  up  in  the 
depths  of  the  soul,  satisfying  all  the  obscure  longings  of 
her  immortal  nature.! 

Deeply  moved  by  what  she  heard,  yet  not  as  yet  able 
to  detach  the  spiritual  from  the  literal  sense,  she  answers  : 
"  Sir,  give  me  this  water,  that  I  thirst  not,  neither  come 
hither  to  draw."$  The  words  express  an  awakening  con- 
fidence in  the  wonderful  Stranger.  She  longs  to  receive 
whatever  He  has  to  impart  under  the  name  of  living 
water.    But  her  eyes  must  be  turned  within,  she  must  be 

*De  Ligny's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  page  64  ;  an  exposition  worthy  of  Calvin, 
t  Lange's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  vol.  2,  page  342. 
t  John  iv.  15. 


JESUS    AND    THE    WOMAN    OF    SAMARIA.  201 

made  distinctly  conscious  of  licr  sinfulness  and  misery 
before  she  can  drink  of  the  water  of  life.  Jesus,  there- 
fore, fixing  his  eyes  upon  her,  abruptly  said  to  her:  "Go, 
call  thy  husband,  and  come  hither."*  She  is  probably 
startled  by  the  unexpected  nature  of  this  command ; 
but  she  does  not  lose  her  self-possession.  She  quietly 
replies:  "I  have  no  husband;"!  so  much  she  may  say 
without  disclosing  her  own  shame.  Her  conscience,  how- 
ever, must  be  deeply  probed.  She  must  look  her  sins 
full  in  the  face  and  confess  them.  "  Thou  hast  well  said, 
I  have  no  husband ;  for  thou  hast  had  five  husbands,  and 
he  whom  thou  now  hast  is  not  thy  husband :  in  that 
saidst  -thou  truly."  $ 

Commenting  upon  this,  De  Ligny§  utters  a  quaint  and 
striking  remark,  which  curiously  betrays  the  Father  Con- 
fessor. "  If  this  was  not  naturally  a  good  woman,  she 
must  have  become  so  already  during  her  interview  with 
Christ, — for  instead  of  giving  Him  the  lie,  as  many  others 
would  have  done,  and  with  greater  assurance  the  more 
foundation  there  was  for  the  reproach,  she  answered  res- 
pectfully, and  with  shame  acknowledged  her  guilt."  "  Sir, 
I  perceive  that  Thou  art  a  prophet."  ||  She  confessed 
that  her  life  had  been  one  of  sin.  She  had  probably  lost 
some  of  her  husbands  by  death ;  she  had  been  divorced 
for  sufficient  reasons,  by  others  ;  and  she  was  at  that  time 
living  with  one  to  whom  she  was  bound  by  no  legal  ties. 

What  a  moment  was  this  for  that  poor  sinful  creature, 
standing  in  the  presence  of  spotless  purity,  under  those 
calm,  pitying  eyes,  which,  she  felt,  searched  the  darkest 
recesses  of  her  soul.  But  something  in  His  words, — per- 
haps also  the  divine  compassion  expressed  in  His  coun- 
tenance, kept  her  from  despair.     She  was  now  more  eager 

*Jolin  iv.  16.  t  Jobn  iv.  17.  t  John  iv.  17,  18. 

§  "Life  of  Christ,"  page   67.  ||  John  iv.  19. 


202  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

than  ever  for  instruction.  "  Our  fathers  worshiped  in  this 
mountain,"  she  said,  pointing  to  the  neighboring  Gerizim, 
"  but  ye  say  that  in  Jerusalem  men  ought  to  worship,"  * 
The  woman  probably  refers  here,  not  only  to  the  times  of 
Sanballat  and  the  apostate  priest  Manasseh,  who  estab- 
lished a  temple  and  an  altar  on  that  mountain,  but  to 
the  patriarchs,  especially  Jacob,  who  had  undoubtedly 
worshiped  there.  At  any  rate,  the  Samaritans  had  from 
time  immemorial  regarded  Mount  Gerizim  as  eminently 
holy,  while  the  Jews  rightly  claimed  that  God  had  chosen 
Mount  Moriah  as  the  seat  of  that  public  sacrificial  worship 
which  the  law  required.  Private  worship  of  the  living 
and  true  God  in  any  place  had  never  been  forbidden,  but 
on  the  contrary  strictly  enjoined. 

Our  Lord's  reply  is  wonderfully  sublime  and  compre- 
hensive :  "  Woman,  believe  me,  the  hour  cometh  when  ye 
shall  neither  in  this  mountain  nor  yet  at  Jerusalem  wor- 
ship the  Father.  Ye  worship  ye  know  not  what;  we 
know  what  we  worship — for  salvation  is  of  the  Jews. 
But  the  hour  cometh,  and  now  is,  when  the  true  worship- 
ers shall  worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth;  for 
the  Father  seeketh  such  to  worship  Him.  God  is  a  Spirit; 
and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship  Him  in  spirit 
and  in  truth."! 

The  Saviour  here  declares  without  parable  or  metaphor, 
to  this  ignorant  and  sinful  yet  child-like  and  open-hearted 
woman,  what  would  have  confounded  the  most  learned 
scribe  of  Jerusalem, — the  spiritual  nature  and  universality 
of  true  religion.  Hitherto,  the  true  worship  of  God,  though 
not  without  a  spiritual  element,  had  been  local,  external 
and  typical.  Now,  however,  a  new  worship  was  about  to 
be  set  up,  which,  though  it  would  clothe  itself  in  outward 
forms,  would  be  substantially  and  distinctively  inward  and 

*John  iv.  20.  t  John  iv.  21-24. 


JESUS    AND    THE    WOMAN    OF    SAMARIA.  203 

spiritual,  and  therefore  not  confined  to  any  particular  place 
or  nation. 

The  Samaritans  were  wrong,  in  several  points.  They 
erred  in  keeping  up  an  unauthorized  and  schismatical 
worship  on  Mount  Gerizim.  Besides,  rejecting  as  they 
did  the  prophets,  they  worshiped  in  comparative  igno- 
rance ;  they  were  without  that  living  knowledge  of  God 
which  was  only  possible  to  those  who  stood  within  the 
sphere  of  the  organic  development  of  divine  revelation. 
Their  conception  of  the  character  and  government  of  Je- 
hovah was  defective  and  dead,  while  the  Jews  had  clear 
and  definite  views  of  God,  and  of  the  way  in  which  He 
might  be  acceptably  worshiped.  Above  all,  salvation 
was  of  the  Jews.  The  Saviour,  as  all  the  prophets  in  long 
succession  had  witnessed,  was  to  be  the  Seed  of  Abraham 
and  the  Son  of  David — a  Jew  and  not  a  Samaritan. 

In  one  very  important  point,  however,  both  Jews  and 
Samaritans  were  at  fault ; — in  failing  to  discover  the  alto- 
gether temporary  character  of  all  worship  p.urely  local  and 
ceremonial,  and  its  necessary  subversion  by  the  spiritual 
and  universal.  The  time  was  even  now  at  hand,  when 
the  outward  and  ceremonial  part  of  the  religion  of  Moses 
was  to  pass  away.  Even  Jerusalem  should  soon  cease  to 
be  the  chosen  dwelling-place  of  Jehovah.  The  daily  sacri- 
fice would  no  lono-er  be  ofiered  ;  the  incense  no  long-er  as- 
cend  from  the  golden  altar ;  the  chantings  of  the  Levites 
would  die  away  into  eternal  silence ;  the  train  of  white- 
robed  priests  would  disappear;  the  veil  which  concealed 
the  most  holy  place  would  be  rent  in  twain;  even  the 
temple  itself  would  be  overthrown  and  not  one  stone  be 
left  upon  another.  The  time  was  at  hand  when  the  Jew 
should  not  be  accepted  because  he  worshiped  at  Jerusa- 
lem, any  more  than  the  Samaritan  because  he  worshiped 
at  Mount  Gerizim;  but  those  and  those  only  would  be 
accepted,  who  worshiped  God  as  a  Father  in  spirit  and 


204  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

in  truth.  The  true  rehgion  would  become  uniyersal, — 
the  religion,  not  of  Jew  or  Samaritan,  but  of  humanity. 
Everywhere  would  men  adore  the  Father,  not  so  much 
hi  outward  rites  as  in  spirit, — in  the  oblation  of  holy 
affections,  obedient  wills,  and  penitent,  believing,  loving 
hearts.  And  this  worship  would  be  in  truth  ; — not  only 
sincere,  but  the  reality  which  the  Mosaic  worship  fore- 
shadowed ;  for  it  would  be  offered  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
the  substantial  truth,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  spirit 
of  truth.  This  kind  of  worship  was  what  God  desired  of 
man,  what  he  sought,  what  he  was  at  that  very  moment 
seeking  of  this  benighted  soul. 

We  picture  to  ourselves  the  woman  standing  as  one  en- 
tranced. The  divine  light  is  breaking  through  the  cloud 
which  has  so  long  enveloped  her  soul ;  and  she  hails  it  as 
light  from  heaven.  A  strange  thrilling  thought  flashes 
upon  her  mind :  "Who  is  this  wonderful  stranger?  I  feel 
that  He  is  a  prophet,  and  more  than  a  prophet ;  can  it  be, 
oh,  can  it  be,  that  He  is  the  Christ  so  long  expected?" 
She  continues  her  soliloquy  aloud  :  "  I  know  that  Messiah 
Cometh,  who  is  called  Christ ;  when  He  is  come  He  will 
tell  us  all  things."* 

The  Samaritans,  whose  conception  of  the  Messiah  must 
have  been  drawn  from  the  words  of  Moses  touching  the 
great  Prophet  or  Teacher,!  who  should  gather  the  people 
to  Himself,  had  not  fallen  into  the  perverted  Jewish  idea 
of  a  national  and  secular  Messiah.  They  looked  for  a 
Teacher,  Converter  and  Guide,  not  for  a  temporal  De- 
liverer and  Prince.  In  this  outlying  Samaritan  world, 
therefore,  it  was  possible  for  Jesus  plainly  to  declare  His 
character  and  mission.  So  He  said  to  the  woman  al- 
ready grasping  at  the  great  truth,  "I  that  speak  unto 
thee  am  He."     Joy,  joy  to  thee,  "  thou  precious  winner !" 

*John  xviii.  25.  fSee  Deuteronomy  xviii.  25. 


JESUS    AND    THE    WOMAN    OF   SAMARIA.  205 

Thy  bonds  are  broken ;  thy  sins  are  forgiven ;  the  water 
of  life  gushes  up  and  Hows  softly  like  the  waters  of  Siloani, 
in  thy  regenerate  soul !  Thy  burning  thirst  is  quenched, 
and  "  every  longing  satisfied." 

What  the  woman  would  have  said  in  reply  to  our  Lord's 
avowal,  we  can  only  conjecture,  for  the  conversation  was 
just  then  interrupted  by  the  return  of  the  disciples  from 
the  city.  They  wondered  to  find  their  Master  engaged  in 
earnest  conversation  with  a  Samaritan  woman,  as  well 
they  might,  considering  their  national  prejudices,  but  they 
asked  no  questions,  and  spreading  out  their  provisions, 
entreated  Him  to  eat.  Ever  mindful  of  their  spiritual  in- 
struction, he  said  to  them,  "  I  have  meat  to  eat  that  ye 
know  not  of"  *  They  whisper  one  to  another,  "  hath  any 
man  brought  Him  aught  to  eat  ?  "  f  Jesus  saith  unto  them, 
"  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  Me,  and  to 
finish  His  work.  Say  not  ye,  there  are  yet  four  months, 
and  then  cometh  the  harvest  ?  Behold  I  say  unto  you,  lift 
up  your  eyes  and  look  on  the  fields,  for  they  are  Avhite 
already  to  the  harvest."  $  As  if  he  had  said,  "  To  carry 
forward  to  completion  the  work  which  the  Father  hath 
given  me  to  do,  is  more  to  Me  than  food  for  my  body ;  it 
is  my  pleasure,  my  nourishment,  my  life  !  And  this  work 
admits  of  no  delay.  You  have  a  saying  at  this  season  of 
seed-time,  that  there  are  four  months  till  harvest,  but  look 
yonder,"  (pointing  to  the  Samaritans  now  thronging  the 
paths  from  the  city,)  "  the  harvest  is  already  ripe  for  the 
sickle." 

Jesus  continues,  "  He  that  reapeth"  (in  this  spiritual 
harvest  field,)  "receiveth  wages,  and  gathereth  fruit  unto 
life  eternal."  The  Lord  of  the  harvest  will  abundantly 
reward  him,  and  the  fruit  he  gathers, — the  soiiU  he  con- 
verts,— shall  1)0  unto  everlasting  salvation,  "  that  both  he 


*  John  viii.  32.  f  John  viii.  33.  $  John  viii.  34,  35 


206  THE    LIFE    OF    CUIUST. 

that  soweth  and  he  that  reapeth  may  rejoice  together. 
And  herein  is  that  saying  true,  one  soweth  and  another 
reapeth.  I  sent  you  to  reap  that  whereon  ye  bestowed 
no  labor,  other  men  labored  and  ye  have  entered  into  their 
labors."  *  The  sowers  to  whom  Jesus  refers  were  Moses, 
and  the  priests  who  had  converted  the  Samaritans  from 
heathenism  to  the  worship  of  the  one  living  and  true 
God.  Perhaps,  also.  He  alludes  to  the  recent  labors  of 
John  the  Baptist,  w^ho  may  have  awakened  in  the  hearts 
of  many  Samaritans  a  longing  for  the  Messiah,  and  a  be- 
lief that  He  was  at  hand. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  woman,  finding  farther  conversa- 
tion with  Jesus  interrupted,  leaves  her  pitcher,  and,  full  of 
wonder  and  joy,  hastens  to  the  city,  and  spreads  abroad  the 
news  of  the  marvelous  stranger  at  Jacob's  well.  "  Come, 
see  a  man,"  she  exclaims,  "  which  told  me  all  things  that 
ever  I  did  :  is  not  this  the  Christ  ?  "  t  Her  zeal  makes 
her  forgetful  of  her  reputation ;  she  does  not  hesitate  to 
proclaim  our  Lord's  supernatural  knowledge  of  her  sins, 
as  a  proof  of  his  being  the  Christ.^:  Her  sincerity,  her 
new-born  love,  the  surprising  change  visible  in  her  aspect 
and  bearing,  all  combined  to  render  her  appeal  irresist- 
ible. Speedily  the  people  go  thronging  forth  towards 
Jacob's  well :  they  come  to  Jesus :  they  entreat  Him  to 
enter  their  city. 

Acceding  to  their  request,  Jesus  enters  the  city  and 
abides  with  them  two  days,  working  no  miracles,  but 
charming  the  people  with  His  heavenly  discourse.  They 
listen  to  His  words ;  they  believe ;  they  rejoice ;  for  the 
salvation  which  is  of  the  Jews,  rejected  at  Jerusalem,  has 
come  to  Sychar.     "And  many  more  believed  because  of 


*.John  iv.  37,  38. 

t  John  iv.  29. 

I  See  Dc  Ligny's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  page  G7. 


JESUS    AND    THE    WOMAN    OF    SAMARIA.  207 

His  own  word ;  and  said  unto  the  woman,  Now  we  believe 
not  because  of  thy  saying,  for  we  have  heard  Ilim  our- 
selves and  know  that  this  is  indeed  the  Christ  the  Saviour 
of  the  world."*  Thus  was  the  seed  sown,  from  which, 
probably,  sprang  the  full  harvest  reaped  some  years  later 
by  the  evangelist  Philip,  and  by  John  and  Peter,  when 
there  was  again  great  joy  in  that  city.f 

*  John  iv.  41,  42.  t  Acts  viii.  5-8. 


CHAPTER    yill. 

JESUS  HEALS  THE  NOBLEMAN'S   SON. 

GALILEE — LIBERAL  VIEWS  OF  THE  GALILEANS — THEIR  FAVORABLE  RE- 
CEPTION OF  JESUS — THE  NOBLEMAN'S  SOX  LIES  DYING — THE  FATHER 
APPEALS  TO  JESUS — WILL  JESUS  GO  TO  CAPERNAUM  AT  HIS  BIDDING?  — 
HE  REBUKES  THE  WONDER-SEEKING  PROPENSITY  OF  THE  PEOPLE — THE 
NOBLEMAN  PRESSES  HIS  PETITION  IN  FAITH — JESUS  HEALS  THE  CHILD  — 
THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  NOBLEMAN's  HOUSEHOLD — JESUS  PASSES  INTO 
TEMPORARY   RETIREMENT. 

In  the  time  of  our  Lord,  Galilee,  one  of  the  provinces 
into  which  Palestine  was  divided,  (the  other  two  being 
Judea  and  Samaria,)  included  the  whole  northern  section 
of  the  country,  from  the  borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  to 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  great  plain  of  Jezreel,  or 
Esdraelon.  Originally,  however,  the  name  was  confined 
to  a  small  "  circuit," — such  is  the  meaning  of  the  word, — 
around  Kedesh-Naphtali,  in  which  were  situated  the 
twenty  towns  given  by  Solomon  to  Hiram,  king  of  Tyre.* 
This  was  old  Galilee,  Galilee  proper;  upper  Galilee,  Gali- 
lee of  the  Gentiles.  After  the  name  was  extended  to  the 
whole  northern  half  of  the  country,  it  would  seem  that  the 
inhabitants  of  lower  Galilee  still  spoke  of  what  anciently 
bore  the  name  as  simply  Galilee.  An  inhabitant  of  Naza- 
reth, for  example,  which  was  in  lower  Galilee,  when  speak- 
ing of  a,  journey  to  the  vale  of  Gennesaret^  in  upper 
Galilee,  would  naturally  say  he  had  visited  Galilee.  So 
if  he  had  passed  through   Cana  he  would  prol^ably  use 


*1  Kings  ix.  11. 


HEALING    OF    THE    NOBLEMAN'S    SON.  209 

the  same  expression.*  Galilee,  at  this  time,  sustained  an 
immense  population.  According  to  Josephus,  the  cities 
and  villages  lay  close  together,  and  many  of  the  latter 
contained  not  less  than  fifteen  thousand  souls.  The  people 
seem  to  have  been  industrious,  thrifty,  and  more  liberal 
minded  tlian  the  inhabitants  of  Judea.  Their  intercourse 
with  Gentiles,  especially  the  Greeks,  had  perhaps,  some- 
what softened  their  Jewish  bigotry,  and  rendered  them 
less  intolerant  toward  the  teachers  of  new  doctrines. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  on  returning 
to  Galilee,  after  His  sojourn  in  Samaria,  our  Lord  met  with 
a  favorable  reception.  For  having  passed  by  Nazareth, 
in  lower  Galilee,  and  gone  to  Cana,  in  Galilee  proper,  the 
Galileans  received  Him  gladly.  The  people  of  Cana  and 
its  vicinity,  in  particular,  remembered  how  He  had  made 
the  water  wine ;  and  many  of  them  had  witnessed  His  glori- 
ous miracles  at  Jerusalem.  It  is  probable  that  His  mother 
and  brethren  were  then  residing  there ;  and  He  seems  to 
have  remained  there  in  comparative  seclusion  for  several 
weeks,  probably  indeed,  for  months.  Only  one  or  two  in- 
cidents (?f  this  period  are  recorded ;  but  we  can  not  doubt 
that  He  taught  the  people  and  proclaimed  the  Kingdom 
of  God  among  the  villages  of  that  rural  upland  region. 

The  arrival  of  Jesus  at  Cana  appears  to  have  been  well 
known  at  Capernaum,  where  he  had  many  friends.  Car 
pernaum  was  at  this  time  a  flourishing  city,  full  of  stately 
dwellings,  and  abounding  in  wealth  and  luxury.  But 
riches  are  no  defense  against  sickness  and  sorrow.  In 
one  of  the  palaces  of  Capernaum  there  is  weeping  and 
lamentation.  There  is  sickness  there,  and  as  is  feared, 
sickness  unto  death.     A  nobleman  bends  over  a  couch, 


*See  Smith's  "Bible  Dictionary,"  in  loco;  Lange's  "Life  of  Christ," 
volume  2,  page  356;  also,  for  another  view,  Andrews'  "Life  of  Christ," 
pages  168,  169. 

14 


210  THE    LIFE    OF    CHllIST. 

with  a  sad  and  mournful  countenance ;  for  there  lies  his 
darling  son,  burning  with  fever;  the  disease  bafiles  all 
medical  skill,  and  seems  to  be  rapidly  ap^Droaching  a  fatal 
termination.  The  father  ccm  not  give  up  his  child ;  his 
son  7ni(st  not  die.  But  what  is  he  to  do  ?  A  thought 
occurs  to  him.  He  hears  that  Jesus,  the  new  prophet  of 
Nazareth,  whom  he  had,  perhaps,  seen  at  Jerusalem,  and 
of  whose  wonderful  miracles  he  had  heard  such  startling 
rumors,  is  now  at  Cana  of  Galilee.  Blinded  by  aristo- 
cratic prejudices  and  religious  bigotry,  he  has  hitherto 
stood  aloof  from  Jesus ;  but  these  all  melt  away  under 
the  fires  of  adversity.  Jesus,  perhaps,  can  save  his  child ; 
it  is  at  any  rate  his  only  hope.  He  will  send  to  Cana ; 
nay,  he  will  go  himself,  and  entreat  the  Prophet  to  come, 
speedily  to  his  dying  boy.  In  a  few  hours  he  reaches 
Cana,  and  prays  our  Lord  to  go  down  at  once  and  heal 
his  son,  now  at  the  point  of  death.* 

Surel}^  Jesus,  this  great  physician  so  full  of  divine  ten- 
derness and  power,  w^ill  at  once  set  out  for  Capernaum? 
No,  He  will  not  be  a  wonder-working  physician  to  men 
of  rank  and  wealth :  He  will  not  be  drawn  f«om  His 
chosen  sphere  of  labor,  by  their  importunity :  He  will 
meet  the  billows  of  their  merely  natural  excitement  Avith 
the  serene,  steadfast  peace  of  God  in  His  own  soul.  He 
Avill  not  go  down  to  Capernaum  at  the  solicitation  of  this 
noljleman.  He  will  hold  the  proud -and  noble  at  respect- 
ful distance.  He  will  improve  the  occasion  to  rebuke  the 
wonder-loving  tendencies  of  the  people.  Our  Lord  knew 
His  visitor,  for  He  knew  what  was  in  man.  This  noble- 
man, who  was  doubtless  a  Jew,  had  evidently  been  among 
those  who  required  a  sign,  an  external  and  splendid  mira- 
cle, as  a  proof  of  our  Lord's  divine  mission.  Perhaps  too, 
he  had  wished  to  see  a  sign  with  his  own  eyes,  and  he 

*  See  John  iv.  47. 


HEALING    OF    THE    NOBLEMAN'S    SON.  211 

may  have  been  in  the  temple  when  the  Jews  came  to 
Jesus  and  said,  "  what  a'ujn  showest  Thou  unto  us,  seeing 
Thou  doest  these  things?"  However  this  may  be,  Jesus 
now,  as  at  all  times,  reproved  this  greed  of  marvels,  which 
was  in  fact  rooted  in  unbelief  He  addressed  the  peti- 
tioner abruptly,  almost  sternly,  in  words  of  rebuke,  in- 
tended to  reach  the  bystanders  also,  "  unless  ye  see  signs 
and  wonders,  ye  will  not  believe."* 

The  anxious  parent  was,  however,  not  repelled  by  this 
rebuke.  He  doubtless  felt  its  justice.  Besides,  the  words 
of  Jesus,  sudden  and  terrible  as  a  lightning  stroke,  flashed 
in  upon  his  troubled  soul  the  conviction  that  simple  faith 
was  the  indispensable  condition  of  the  cure  of  his  darling 
child.  He  discovers,  too,  a  hidden  encouragement  in  this 
reproof,  an  implied  promise,  even  in  the  seeming  repulse. 
If  he  can  believe  without  sign,  then  the  cure  is  not  im- 
possible. And  he  can.  Tacitly  confessing  his  sin,  he  says 
with  a  full  heart,  "  Sir,  come  down  ere  my  child  die ! "  t 
He  has  faith  like  a  grain  of  mustard  seed.  Though  the 
thought  does  not  occur  to  him,  as  it  did  to  the  centurion 
afterwards  (who,  however,  must  have  been  cognizant  of 
this  miracle,)  that  Jesus  can  heal  his  child  at  a  distance, 
much  less  that  He  can  raise  him  from  the  dead,  he  does 
believe  that  if  the  Lord  Can  but  see  his  child  he  will  live. 
The  faith  of  Martha  and  Mary — "Lord,  if  thou  hadst  been 
here  our  brother  had  not  died  "  t — seems  not  to  have  been 
greater. 

The  point  has  now  been  gained :  the  lesson  has  been 
taught.  Jesus  will  not  go  down  to  Capernaum,  but  the 
child  shall  not  die ;  faith  shall  have  its  reward.  With  a 
countenance  changed  from  severity  to  benign  interest  and 
love,  Jesus  says  to  him  :  "  Go  thy  way  ;  thy  son  liveth."  § 
"In  the  very  same  moment  that  this  life-ray  of  deliver- 


*John  iv.  48.         t  Jobn  iv.  49.         tJohn  xi   32.         §  Joba  iv.  50. 


212  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

aiice  darted  into  the  father's  heart,  it  darted  into  the  heart 
of  his  distant  son."  *  The  father  doubted  not.  So  stroi;ig 
was  his  assurance  that  his  child  was  restored,  that  he  did 
not  return  home  till  the  next  day,  though  it  was  but  the 
seventh  houi', — one  o'clock  p.  m., — when  the  life-giving 
word  was  spoken.  As  he  was  leisurely  returning,  his 
servants  met  him  with  the  joyful  tidings  that  his  son 
was  well.  "When  did  he  begin  to  amend?"  he  inquired. 
"  Yesterday,"  they  replied,  "  at  the  seventh  hour,  the  fever 
left  him  "  t — the  very  moment  when  Jesus  said,  "  thy  son 
liveth."  No  wonder  that  the  nobleman  believed  and  all 
his  house.  There  was  great  joy  when  he  reached  his 
house  and  again  embraced  his  son.  Doubtless  he  told  his 
family  about  his  interview  with  Jesus — doubtless  they  all 
longed  to  thank  Him  for  His  goodness,  and  if  the  noble- 
man was,  as  has  been  conjectured,  Chuza,  Herod's  steward, 
we  can  understand  the  feeling  which  prompted  his  noble 
wife,  Joanna,  to  follow  Jesus  up  to  Jerusalem  and  minister 
to  Him  of  her  wealth. 

After  the  performance  of  this  miracle,  we  hear  little  of 
our  Lord  until  His  return  to  Jerusalem  to  attend  the  feast 
of  the  Passover.  His  disciples  appear  to  have  retired  to 
their  respective  homes  soon  after  His  arrival  at  Cana ;  and 
He  Himself  probably  now  withdrew  into  comparative  se- 
clusion. Indeed;,  a  variety  of  circumstances  lead  to  the 
conclusion,  that  this  was  His  object  in  returning  to  Galilee 
rather  than  the  active  prosecution  of  His  mission,  t  That 
mission  could  not  be  consistently  and  fully  inaugurated 
until  that  of  the  Br^ptist  had  been  brought  to  its  com- 
pletion. Ue  had  already  done  enough  to  evince  the 
divine  relation  of  the  two,  and  to  verify  and  sustain 
the  predictions  and  preaching  of  the  Baptist.  He  now 
waits  in  peaceful  retirement  the  full  appointed  time. 

*Langc.      fJoliu  iv.  52        J:  Sec  Andrews'  "  Llfo  of  Christ,"  p.  170. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

JESUS  HEALS   THE  IMPOTENT   MAN. 

JESUS  GOES  UP  THE  SECOXD  TIME  TO  JERUSALEM — HIS  PECULIAR  CHOICE 
OF  GALILEE  AS  HIS  CHIEF  FIELD  OF  LABOR — THE  FEAST  PROBABLY  THE 
j>ASSOVER — ^JEStjS  AMOXG  THfe  MULTITUDE^BETHESDA — JESUS  HEALS 
THE  IMPOTENT  MAN — THE  JEWS  REBUKE  THE  IMPOTENT  MAN — THEIR 
EFFORT  TO  DISCOVER  JESUS,  AND  ITS  FAILURE — JESUS  MEETS  THE 
IMPOTENT  MAN  THE  SECOND  TIME,  AND  ADMONISHES  HIM — SPECIAL 
RETRIBUTION  IN  THIS  LIFE — THE  IMPOTENT  MAN  MAKES  JESUS  KNO\\'N 
TO  THE  JEWS — THEY  ASSAIL  HIM  OPENLY — -PECULIAR  OPENING  OF  OUR 
lord's  defense — THE  PERFECTION  OF  THE  DIVINE  REPOSE — THE  PER- 
PETUITY OF  god's  ACTIVITY- — ESPECIAL  PROOF  OF  OUR  LORD'S  DIVINITY 
— ESPECIAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  REPLY  OF  THE  JEWS — JESUS  DE- 
CLARES HIS  UNITY  WITH  THE  FATHER — HE  DECLARES  THE  GROUND 
OF  THAT  UNITY — HE  SPECIFIES  CERTAIN  WORKS  IN  WHICH  THAT  UNITY 
EXISTS — THE  JEWS  SILENCED  BUT  NOT  CONCILIATED — THEIR  EMBAR- 
RASSMENT  IN   CARRYING    OUT    THEIR    HOSTILE   PURPOSES. 

EMERGiiSTG,  at  length,  from  the  retirement,  of  which 
mention  was  made  in  tlie  previous  chapter,  Jesus  leaves 
Galilee  and  goes  up  for  the  second  time  to  Jerusalem. 
His  immediate  object  is  to  attend  "a  feast  of  the  Jews;" 
for  it  will  be  observed  that  the  several  journeys  which 
He  made  to  Jerusalem  were  only  such  as  were  required 
by  law,  and  that,  as  soon  as  the  immediate  occasion  of 
His  visit  had  passed,  He  left  the  city,  seeming  to  have 
a  special  disinclination  to  make  it  for  any  time  His  abode. 

Indeed  it  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  Jesus  kept  aloof  from 
Jerusalem,  the  center  of  intellectual  activity  and  influencej 
where  He  might,  as  it  would  seem,  have  brought  Ilis  doc- 
trines to  bear  upon  the  leading  minds  of  the  nation ;  and 
spent  the  larger  portion  of  His  public  life  in  GalileCv  pass- 


214  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

ing  from  village  to  village  along  the  shores  of  Gennesaret, 
and  among  its  vine-clad  hills,  followed  by  fishermen  and 
publicans  as  His  trusted  friends  and  disciples.  That  He  did 
so,  and  yet,  by  a  brief  ministry  of  three  years  and  a  half 
impressed  Himself  on  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  world 
more  deeply  than  any  man  who  has  ever  lived,  is  in  itself 
a  sufficient  proof  of  His  divine  character  and  mission. 

Much  diversity  of  opinion  prevails  among  scholars,  as 
to  what  feast  this  was,  which  our  Lord  went  up  to  Jerusa- 
lem to  attend.  Some  suppose  it  to  have  been  the  feast 
of  Purim  ;  others  incline  to  the  belief  that  it  was  the  Pass- 
over. The  question  is  chiefly  important  as  bearing  upon 
the  time  during  which  our  Lord  prosecuted  His  public 
ministryc  If  it  was  the  feast  of  Purim,  his  public  ministry 
must  have  lasted  only  about  two  years  and  a  half  If  it 
was  the  Passover,  as  the  most  judicious  commentators 
suppose,  it  enables  us  to  settle  quite  conclusively  the 
fact  that  it  continued  for  a  longer  period.  This  supposi- 
tion w^ould  give  us  four  Passovers  during  his  ministry, — 
the  first  occurring,  probably,  about  six  months  subsequent 
to  His  baptism,  and  the  last  in  connection  with  His  cruci- 
fixion and  death.  This  gives  us  for  the  duration  of  His 
public  labors  a  period  of  about  three  years  and  a  half, — 
a  period  foreshadowed  in  the  prophecy  of  Daniel.*  The 
subject  is,  it  must  be  owned,  attended  with  an  almost 
hopeless  uncertainty.  The  evangelist  has  given  us  no 
clue  whatever  to  a  right  solution.  A  somewhat  celebrated 
Roman  Catholic  commentator,  Maldonahis,  seems  inclined 
to  quarrel  with  him  on  account  of  this  omission.  We  may, 
however,  be  thankful  that  a  wise  inspiration  has  thus  baffled 
and  mortified  a  vain,  though  learned,  curiosity.  The  point 
at  issue  is  by  no  means  vital  to  a  full  and  harmonious  con- 
ception of  the  character  and  mission  of  Jesus.     Whether 

*Sec  Daniel,  ix.  27. 


HEALING    OF    THE    IMIj-OTENT    MAN.  215 

He  labored  on  earth  a  year  less  or  more,  is  of  no  conse- 
quence, so  far  as  the  work  of  man's  salvation  is  concerned. 

Let  us  now  accompany  our  Lord  to  Jerusalem  to  witness 
the  illustrious  miracle  which  He  there  performed,  and  to 
listen  to  the  memorable  discourse  to  which  it  gave  rise. 
The  city  was  at  this  time  thronged  with  myriads  of  people 
who  had  come  up  to  attend  the  feast,  not  only  from  all 
parts  of  the  Holy  Land,  but  also  from  countries  distant 
and  foreign.  The  countless  multitude  is  flowing  in  an 
unbroken  stream  toward  the  temple  to  witness  its  impos- 
ing rites  and  engage  in  its  solemn  worship.  There  is 
One,  however,  who  takes  a  different  direction.  There  is 
hard  by  a  certain  gate  called  the  Sheep  Gate,  a  remark- 
able fountain  or  pool,  called  Bethesda.  It  is  said  to  possess 
at  certain  times,  supernatural  healing  qualities.  At  such 
times,  an  angel  descends  and  agitates  the  waters.  Who- 
ever, thereafter,  steps  first  into  the  pool  is  immediately 
made  whole,  no  matter  with  what  disease  he  may  be 
afflicted.  So  undoubting  is  the  popular  faith  in  this  mi- 
raculous virtue  of  the  fountain,  that  multitudes  of  invalids 
are  gathered  about  it,  waiting  for  the  moving  of  the 
waters.  For  their  accommodation  a  stately  building  has 
been  erected,  having  five  porches..  These  are  now  full 
of  patients  sick  of  divers  maladies, — a  sad  and  moving 
spectacle  of  diseased  and  distressed  humanity. 

The  Stranger,  accomjDanied  by  several  persons  in  the 
garb  of  countrymen,  enters  the  place.  He  looks  around 
upon  the  crowd  of  sufferers  with  an  expression  of  the 
deepest  pity,  but  His  present  business  is  with  a  single  in- 
dividual. On  one  of  the  beds  lies  a  man  who  has  been 
a  cripple  for  thirty  years.  During  all  that  period,  he  has 
been  perfectly  helpless.  His  infirmity,  probably  paralysis, 
found  him  a  young  man,  and  now  he  is  old.  His  manhood 
has  withered  away  under  this  awful  malady, 'and  now  he 
lies  in  the  porch  of  Bethesda,  and  has  long  lain  there,  help- 


216  THE    LJFE    OF    CHRIST. 

less,  yet  faintly  hoping  that  he  may  at  last  be  healed  by 
means  of  the  supernatural  virtue  of  its  fountain. 

Jesus  approaches  the  sufferer.  He  knows  how  misera- 
ble his  condition  is,  and  how  long  he  has  lain  thus.  With 
accents  full  of  compassion.  He  says  to  him, "  wilt  thou  be 
made  whole  ?  "  *  "  Sir,"  he  replies, "  I  have  no  man,  when 
the  Avater  is  troubled,  to  put  me  into  the  pool ;  but  while 
I  am  coming,  another  steppeth  down  before  me."t  He 
seems  to  have  supposed,  from  the  question  asked,  that 
Jesus,  whom  he  did  not  know,  doubted  whether  he  really 
wished  to  be  healed.  Our  Lord  gives  no  heed  to  his  mis- 
apprehension. The  attention  of  the  sufferer  has  been  se- 
cured and  his  interest  awakened,  b}^  the  question,  and  this 
seems  to  have  been  the  Saviour's  design.  He  now  stands 
forth  in  His  divine  character  as  the  Lord  of  life  and  health 
and  blessing.  He  says  to  the  impotent  man  :  '•  Rise,  take 
up  thy  bed  and  walk."$  It  is  no  sooner  said  than  done. 
The  helpless  cripple  feels  within  himself  that  he  is  cured. 
He  rises,  takes  up  his  couch,  and  leaves  the  place  which 
had  so  long  witnessed  his  suffering  and  patient  waiting. 

As  he  joyfully  walked  through  the  streets,  feeling,  we 
doubt  not,  rather  like  a. disembodied  spirit  than  a  being 
of  flesh  and  blood,  he  was  met  by  certain  Jews  of  the 
stricter  sort,  who  reproved  him  for  carrying  his  bed  on 
the  Sabbath,  charging  it  as  a  violation  of  the  law.  Evi- 
dently thinking  that  One  who  could  heal  such  an  in- 
firmity as  his  had  the  right  to  make  law,  at  least  for 
him,  the  impotent  man  replied :  "  He  that  made  me 
whole,  the  same  said  unto  me,  take  up  thy  bed  and 
walk."§  Now,  mark  the  malice  of  these  Jews.  They 
ask  in  return,  not  ''  What  man  is  that  which  made  thee 
whole  ?  "  but  "  What  man  is  that  which  said  unto  thee, 
take  up  thy  bed  and  walk?"||     Li  their  estimation,  the 

♦John  V.  6.     t  Jobn  v.  7.     t  John  v.  8.     §  John  v.  11.     ||  John  v.  12. 


POOL    OF    SILOAJE. 


I 


HEALING  OF  THE  IMPOTENT  MAN.        217 

miracle  was  of  no  account,  so  long  as  it  was  accompanied 
by  an  apparent  infraction  of  the  letter  of  the  law.  They 
felt  no  interest  in  knowing  who  had  power  to  bring  such 
blessing  to  the  wretched ;  tliey  were  only  intent  on  dis- 
covering who  had  thus,  as  they  regarded  it,  desecrated  the 
Sabbath  day.  They  would  detect  Him  and  visit  Him  with 
condign  punishment.  But  their  malicious  purpose  was 
thwarted ;  the  desired  information  was  not  to  be  had. 
The  man  knew  not  who  his  benefactor  was,  and  Jesus 
had  disappeared  in  the  crowd. 

Not  long  after  this, — how  long,  we  are  not  told, — Jesus 
found  the  man  who  had  been  restored,  in  the  temple, 
whither  he  had  gone,  probably,  to  render  thanksgiving 
for  his  restoration  to  health.  Knowing  what  his  manner 
of  life  had  been,  and  that  his  disease  had  been  caused  by 
the  sins  of  his  3'outh,  our  Lord  gravely  admonished  him 
not  to  relapse  into  his  former  evil  ways  : — "  Sin  no  more, 
lest  a  worse  thing  come  upon  thee."  *  Already  had  thirty 
of  the  best  years  of  his  life  been  made  a  blank  and  a 
burden  to  him  by  his  sins ;  how  could  a  worse  thing  be 
brought  upon  him  by  a  return  to  them?  What  could 
this  worse  thing  be,  unless  it  Avas  the  destruction  of  soul 
and  body  t  in  hell,  of  which  our  Lord  spoke  on  another 
occasion?  This  case  is  a  sufficient  proof  that  God  does 
sometimes  visit  the  sins  of  men  with  special  retribution 
in  the  present  life.  We  can  not,  indeed,  distinguish  be- 
tween those  sufferings  of  our  fellow-men  which  are  special 
judgments  and  those  which  are  merely,  like  the  afflictions 
of  Job,  trials  of  our  faith  and  patience.  This  should 
prevent  us  from  indulging  in  either  superstitious  or  un- 
charitable thoughts.  Our  inability,  however,  to  determine 
its  applications  does  not  change  the  general  fact.  That 
some  sins  are  marked  out  for  special  punishment  in  this 

*John  V.  14.  tSee  Matthew  xii.  28. 


218  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

life,  is  a  natural  and  necessary  inference  from  the  words 
of  Jesus  as  just  quoted. 

As  the  result  of  this  second  interview,  the  impotent 
man  learned  that  his  benefactor  Avas  Jesus,  of  whom, 
doubtless,  he  had  heard  much  Avithin  the  few  months  past. 
Going  immediately  to  the  Jews,  not,  we  think,  with  any 
treacherous  intent,  but  rather  with  the  wish  to  honor  his 
Divine  Physician,  he  told  them,  not  that  it  was  Jesus  who 
had  commanded  him  to  take  up  his  bed  and  Avalk, — Avhich 
he  would  have  done  had  he  been  disposed  to  act  the  part 
of  a  thankless  informer; — but  "that  it  was  Jesus  which 
had  made  him  whole."  *  The  Jews  had  now  the  informa- 
tion which  they  desired.  It  was,  as  they  had  suspected, 
Jesus,  the  object  of  their  secret  fear  and  hatred,  who  was 
responsible  for  this  alleged  public  desecration  of  the  Sab- 
bath. Hitherto  their  opposition  to  Him  had  been  covert } 
for  they  knew  not  how  to  justify  themselves  before  the 
people,  who  were  always  ready  to  take  part  with  Him. 
Now,  however,  they  could  fasten  upon  Him  the  charge  of 
Sabbath-breaking,  and  He  could  not,  as  they  thought,  repel 
it.  He  had  commanded  the  impotent  man  to  carry  a 
burden  upon  the  Sabbath,  which  was  a  violation  of  the 
lette?'  of  the  law.  Besides  this,  in  the  estimation  of  these 
Jews,  the  mere  act  of  healing  was  a  desecration  of  the 
day.  They  were,  therefore,  filled  with  rage, — rage  which, 
in  their  passionate  self-delusion,  they  fincicd  to  be  holy 
indignation.  They  attacked  our  Lord  in  public, — it  would 
seem  in  the  temple, — charging  Him  with  an  open  and 
flagrant  infraction  of  the  law, — with  the  daring  sin  of 
breaking  the  Sabbath. 

Of  the  particulars  of  this  exciting  interview,  the  evan- 
gelist gives  a  minute  account.  The  defence  set  up  by 
Jesus,  which  is  reported  in  full,  is  so  sublime  and  beautiful 

*Jolin  V.  15. 


HEALING  OF  THE  IMPOTENT  MAN.         219 

that  it  merits  tliouo^Iitful  attention.  As  the  crime  allcired 
was  Sabbath-breaking,  it  seems  probable  that  the  Jews 
had  cited  the  passage ;  "  And  He  rested  on  the  seventh 
day  from  all  His  work  which  He  had  made.  And  God 
blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  sanctified  it,  because  that  in 
it  He  had  rested  from  all  His  work  which  God  created 
and  made."*  Whether  this  was  quoted  or  not,  it  was 
doubtless  in  their  minds,  for  Jesus  opens  His  defence  with 
a  palpable  reference  to  it,  when  he  says ;  "  My  Father 
worketh  hitherto  and  I  work."  f 

Now,  we  must  not  understand  our  Lord  as  denying  that 
God  rested  on  the  seventh  day ;  but  rather  as  announcing 
the  sublime  truth  that  in  God  there  is  a  union  of  perfect 
rest  with  infinite  and  perpetual  activity.  His  is  the  re- 
pose of  infinite  wisdom,  incapable  of  surprise  or  disappoint- 
ment ;  of  infinite^oi^er,  which  nothing  can  resist  or  hinder, 
and  whose  greatest  works  are  accomplished  without  weari- 
ness or  effort ;  of  absolute  immutableness,  which,  in  the 
center  of  a  fluctuating  universe,  is  a  steadfast  "  Rock  of 
Ages,"  even  "  from  everlasting  to  everlasting ;"  of  infinite 
holiness,  whose  unfathomable  abysses  of  peace  can  never 
be  disturbed  by  sin,  or  overshadowed  by  remorse. 

Yet  this  God  of  peace,  to  whom  all  the  cycles  of  eter- 
nity are  one  Sabbath,  ^'■worlceth  hitherto^  When  He 
consecrated  the  seventh  day,  it  was  simply  as  a  meinorial 
that  those  mighty  changes  by  which  the  present  order 
of  the  universe  was  ushered  in,  were  finished.  There 
was,  however,  on  that  day,  no  withdrawal  of'  the  creative 
energy  of  Him  who  worketh  all  in  all,  from  the  things 
which  He  had  made,  else  had 

"  This  universal  frame  so  wondrous  fair," 

fallen  back  into  chaos  :  it  would  have  ceased  to  be.     Pres- 

*  Genesis  ii.  2,  3.  tJolm  v.  17. 


220  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

ervation,  according  to  the  schools,  is  continued  creation. 
All  the  laws  and  properties  of  matter ;  all  the  phenomena 
of  the  material  world ;  all  that  constitutes  the  world  of 
mind ; — all  are  but  the  outcomings  of  the  creative  will, 
acting"  accordino;  to  its  own  immutable  laws.  Throuo-h- 
out  every  particle  of  every  world  in  all  these  immeasur- 
able oceans  of  space,  God  worketh  at  the  present  instant, 
and  as  truly  as  He  did  at  the  moment  of  their  creation. 
The  ancient  heavens  are  kept  young  and  unwrinkled,  the 
old  foundations  of  the  everlasting  hills  solid  and  unmoved, 
by  the  vivifying  energy  of  His  secret  presence.  And  all 
this  eternal  working  is  without  weariness.  "  Hast  thou  not 
known  ;  hast  thou  not  heard,  that  the  everlasting  God,  the 
Lord,  the  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth,  fainteth  not 
neither  is  weary  ?  there  is  no  searching  of  His  under- 
standing."* Such  is  the  grand  truth,  asserted  by  our 
Lord,  in  justification  of  His  work  of  healing  on  the  Sab- 
bath day.  It  was  no  more  a  desecration  of  holy  time 
than  was  the  eternal  working  of  the  Father. 

In  this  connection  it  is  noticeable,  that  in  nothing  is 
the  divinity  of  Jesus  more  apparent  than  in  that  union  of 
Godlike  repose  and  superhuman  activity  which  is  always 
visible  in  His  person  and  actions.  He  performed  His 
mightiest  miracles,  with  as  little  effort  as  is  put  forth  by 
God  in  carrying  on  the  great  processes  of  nature.  The 
Sabbath  of  his  soul  was  never  interrupted  for  a  moment, 
when  life-o-ivinu:  virtue  went  out  of  Him,  to  heal  the  sick, 
or  even  to  raise  the  dead.  Besides,  His  working  was  pat- 
terned after  that  of  His  Father,  in  all  its  holiness  and 
beneficence.  He  said  on  another  occasion ;  "  It  is  lawful 
to  do  well  on  the  Sabbath  days."! 

But  this  defence  of  our  Lord,  sublime  as  it  seems  to  us, 
so  far  from  convincing  His  adversaries,  was  regarded  by 


*  Isaiah  xl.  28.  t  Matthew  xii.  12. 


IIEALIXG    OF    THE    IMPOTENT    MAN.  221 

them  as  blasphemous.  They  "sought  the  more  to  kill 
Him,  becaiLse  He  had  not  only  broken  the  Sabbath  day, 
but  said  also  that  God  was  His  Father,  making  Himself 
equal  with  God.''*  A  peculiar  importance  here  attaches 
to  this  language  of  the  exasperated  Jews.  It  shows  con- 
clusively what  they  understood  our  Lord  to  mean  Avlien 
He  sjDoke  of  Himself  as  the  Son  of  God.  They  understood 
Him  to  assert  His  natural  equality  with  the  Father,  and. 
He,  so  far  from  even  intimating  that  they  were  mistalcen, 
positively  confirms  them  in  the  view  they  had  taken  of 
His  meaning. 

He  proceeds  to  declare  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  the 
perfect  unity  in  power,  knowledge,  love  and  action  between 
the  Father  and  Himself  "  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  the  Son 
can  do  nothing-  of  Himself,  but  what  He  seeth  the  Father 
do ;  for  what  things  soever  He  doeth,  these  also  doeth  the 
Son  likewise."!  Here  is  unity  of  ojyeration.  He  next 
declares  the  ground  of  that  unity.  ^  For  the  Father  loveth 
the  Son,  and  showeth  Him  all  things  that  Himself  doeth."  % 
This  love  of  the  Father  to  the  Son  is  tantamount  to  entire 
self-communication  ;  so  that  whatsoever  the  Father  knows, 
and  does,  the  Son  also  knows  and  does.  The  only  differ- 
ence between  them  is,  that  the  knowledge  and  operation 
of  the  Father  ajce  from  Himself  alone ;  while  the  same 
knowledge  and  operation  in  the  Son  are  from  the  Father 
by  that  love,  or  self-commitniccdion. 

Our  Lord  further  goes  on  to  specify  certain  works  in 
which  there  is  this  perfect  unity  of  operation  between 
Him  and  the  Father ;  as,  for  example,  the  quickening  of 
the  dead,  and  the  j,udging  of  mankind.  For  as  the  Father 
raiseth  up  the  dead,  and  quickeneth  them,  even  so  the 
Son  quickeneth  whom  He  will.  For  the  Father  judgeth 
no  man ;  but  hath  committed  all  judgment  unto  the  Son : 

*Johu  V.  18.  t  John  V.  19.  $  John  v  20. 


222  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

that  all  men  should  honor  the  Son,  even  as  they  honor 
the  Father."  *  ''  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  the  hour 
is  coming  and  now  is,  when  the  dead  shall  hear  the  voice 
of  the  Son  of  God,  and  they  that  hear  shall  live.  For  as 
the  Father  hath  life  in  Himself,  so  hath  He  given  to  the 
Son  to  have  life  in  Himself;  and  hath  given  Him  au- 
thority to  execute  judgment  also,  because  He  is  the  Son 
of  man.  Marvel  not  at  this  ;  for  the  hour  is  comino:  in 
"the  which  all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  His  voice 
and  shall  come  forth  :  they  that  have  done  good,  unto  the 
resurrection  of  life ;  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto 
the  resurrection  of  damnation.  I  can  of  mine  own  self 
do  nothing  ;  as  I  hear,  I  judge  ;  and  my  judgment  is  just, 
because  I  seek  not  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  the 
Father  which  hath  sent  me."t  And  all  this  is  but  the 
explicit  expression  of  His  first  declaration :  "  My  father 
worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work." 

The  exposition  of  the  remainder  of  our  Lord's  discourse 
is  not  vital  to  the  narrative.  The  discourse,  as  a  Avliole, 
seems  to  have  silenced  the  Jews.  But  it  by  no  means  con- 
ciliated them.  From  this  occurrence  began  that  persecu- 
tion which  never  slept  until  Jesus  was  taken,  and  by  wicked 
hands  crucified  and  slain,  t  It  had  now  become  clear  to 
the  religious  leaders  of  the  nation  that  Jesus  was  not 
the  Messiah  whom  they  desired.  His  miracles  they  could 
not  deny ;  His  wisdom  and  virtue  they  could  not  gainsay. 
But  He  evidently  did  not  belong  to  them :  He  had  no 
sj^mpathy  with  the  popular  religion,  or  with  any  of  its 
sects.  They  seem,  therefore,  about  this  time,  to  have  de- 
termined to  put  Him  out  of  the  way.  This,  however, 
they  could  not  effect  immediately.  They  were  restrained 
on  the  one  hand  by  fear  of  the  Roman  authorities,  and 
on  the  other,  by  a  dread  of  the  multitude,  who  regarded 

*  John  V.  21-23.  t  Jolin  v.  25-30.  %  See  Acts  ii.  23. 


HEALING  OF  THE  IMPOTENT  MAN.         223 

Jesus  as  a  prophet.  Their  plan  was,  therefore,  to  iinder- 
mme  His  influence  with  the  people,  and  to  excite  the  sus- 
picion and  jealousy  of  the  Romans  against  Ilim.  How 
artfully  and  perseveringly  this  malignant  scheme  was 
carried  out  the  history  of  the  two  years  following  will 
fully  disclose. 


PART    V. 


The  Introductory  Ministry 
of  Jesus  in  GalileCo 


CHAPTER    I. 

JESUS   REJECTED   AT  NAZARETH. 

JESUS  HEARS  OF  JOHN'S  IMPRISONMENT — HE  RETURNS  TO  GALILEE  AND 
IS  PERMITTED  TO  LABOR  FREELY — HE  COMES  TO  NAZARETH — HE  AT- 
TENDS THE  SYNAGOGUE  SERVICE — HE  READS  THE  LESSON  FROM  THE 
PROPHETS — JESUS  EXPOUNDS  THE  WORDS  OF  THE  PROPHET — THE  IN- 
CREDULITY AND  SCORN  OF  THE  NAZARENES — JESUS  REBUKES  THEM 
SHARPLY — THEIR  RAGE — THEY  ARE  FOILED  IN  THEIR  ATTEMPT  TO 
KILL  JESUS — THE  NAZARENES  GIVEN  OVER  TO  UNBELIEF — THEIR  RE- 
JECTION OF  JESUS  ACCOUNTED  FOR — GOD,  IN  HIS  WORKS,  SIMILARLY 
UNRECOGNIZED  BY  MEN — JESUS  APPEARED  ON  EARTH  AS  A  MAN — 
KIS  SINLESSNESS  A  FACT  NOT  READILY  APPRECIAB'L.E  PY  MEN — HE 
CONTINUED  SO  LONG  IN  OBSCURITY — THE  FAMILIAR  ACQUAINTANCE 
OF  THE  NAZARENES  WITH  JESUS,  A  HINDRANCE  TO  THEIR  HIGHER 
KNOWLEDGE    OF    HIM, 

Soox  after  the  events  narrated  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, and  while  He  was  engaged  in  the  further  prosecution 
of  His  labors,  our  Lord  received  the  painful,  and  yet  not 
unexpected  tidir.-gs,  that  John  the  Baptist  had  been  thrown 
into  prison.*  The  stern  and  uncompromising  character  of 
John,  his  evident  lack  of  sympathy  with  the  ruling  classes 
among  the  Jews,  his  unsparing  rebukes  of  the  v/ickedness 
of  the  age,  and  his  open  and  positive  endorsement  of  Jesus 
as  the  Messiah,  had,  at  length,  aroused  against  him  a  hos- 
tility which  could  not  be  appeased  short  of  his  life.  Know- 
ing as  He  did  the  secret  hatred  and  the  diabolical  plans  of 
the  Jews  ;  and  conscious  that  the  ncAvs  of  John's  imprison- 
ment w^ould  embolden  them  to  attempt  putting  an  end  to 
His  labors  by  a  like  violence,  our  Lord  withdrew  from 

*See  Matthew  iv.  12. 


228  THE    LIFE    OF    CURIST. 

Jerusalem,  and  returned  to  Galilee.  Here,  favorably  re- 
ceived by  the  people,  who  appear  not  yet  to  have  been 
infected  by  the  animosity  of  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem,  He 
engaged  in  teaching  in  the  synagogues,  and  preaching  the 
gospel  of  the  Kingdom.  That  He  was  permitted  to  do 
so  freely,  was  not  strange.  The  synagogue  worship  was 
distino-uished  for  its  freedom.  The  rio:ht  of  teachino;  was 
not  restricted  to  any  class.  After  the  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, in  the  synagogue  service,  any  respectable  person 
was  permitted  to  speak.  Then,  too,  the  hostile  policy  of 
the  Jewish  leaders  had  not  yet  develoj^ed  itself  openly, 
so  as  to  attract  the  attention,  or  excite  the  passions  of 
the  people. 

On  one  of  His  missionary  tours,  Jesus  came  to  Naza- 
reth, the  city  where  He  had  been  brought  up.  He  seems 
to  have  arrived  several  days  previous  to  the  Sabbath,  dur- 
ing which  time  He  healed  a  few  sick  people  and  preached 
to  Plis  former  neighbors  as  He  had  opportunity.  Some 
reports  of  His  miracles  at  Jerusalem,  and  perhaps  of  the 
healing  of  the  nobleman's  son,  must  have  reached  them, 
yet  His  coming  seems  to  have  created  no  extraordinary 
sensation,  though  many,  doubtless,  felt  a  vague  curiosity 
to  see  and  hear  the  youthful  artisan  whose  name  already 
resounded  throusrh  the  land. 

When  the  Saljbath  was  come,  Jesus,  according  to  His 
custom  from  childhood,  went  into  the  synagogue  to  unite 
in  the  public  worship  of  God.  The  jDCople  had  been  ac- 
customed to  see  Him  there  in  company  with  His  mother 
and  other  relatives,  not  as  a  teacher,  but  as  a  quiet  wor- 
shiper. He  had  come  and  gone,  just  like  any  other  pious 
mechanic.  They  had  not  noticed  anything  extraordinary 
in  Him.  They  had  seen  nothing  to  censure ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  there  had  been  little  to  attract  attention. 

On  this  occasion,  when  opportunity  was  given,  proba- 
bly after  the  reading  of  the  prescribed  section  of  the  law, 


JESUS    REJECTED    AT   NAZAEETH.  220 

Jesus  stood  up  as  a  signal, — doubtless  in  accordance  uitli 
the  usage  of  the  synagogue, — that  he  would  read  the 
lesson  from  the  prophets.  The  servant  of  the  synagoo-ue 
handed  Him  the  book  of  the  prophet  Isaiah.  Unrollino- 
the  volume  till  He  came  to  what  we  call  the  sixty-first 
chapter.  He  read  the  first  verse  and  a  part  of  the  second. 
The  passage  is  translated  by  Luke  into  Greek  very  freely, 
giving  the  full  sense  of  the  Hebrew  original,  without  ren- 
dering word  for  word,  as  in  our  English  version :  "  The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  Me,  because  He  hath  anointed 
Me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor :  He  hath  sent  Me 
to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to  the 
captives,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at 
liberty  them  that  are  bruised,  to  preach  the  acceptable 
year  to  the  Lord."* 

What  a  full,  glowing  description  of  the  Messiah  and  His 
work !  Anointed  from  above  with  the  Spirit,  when  the 
heavens  were  opened,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  likeness 
of  a  dove,  descended  and  abode  upon  Him,  He  was  com- 
missioned to  proclaim  glad  tidings  to  the  miserable  and 
perishing ;  to  the  sorrowful  and  poor  in  spirit ;  to  heal 
the  hearts  that  were  contrite  and  penitent ;  to  announce 
liberty  to  all  in  bondage,  and  deliverance  to  all  who  were 
bruised  by  any  kind  of  Oppression ;  in  a  word,  to  publish 
the  great,  the  beautiful  year  of  jubilee,  the  year  of  re- 
demption and  freedom  for  mankind, — such  was  the  Mes- 
siah's work  as  foreshown  by  the  evangelical  prophet. 

Having  read  these  words,  Jesus  rolled  up  the  volume, 
gave  it'  to  the  servant  of  the  synagogue,  and  sat  down. 
Something  in  His  appearance,  and  in  the  reading,  com- 
bined with  a  curiosity  previously  excited,  concentrated 
upon  Him  the  attention  of  the  whole  congregation.  He 
at  once  began  to  discourse  to  them  on  the  Scripture  just 

*  Isaiah  Isi.  1,  2. 


230  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIUIST. 

read,  showing  its  fulfillment  then  and  there,  with  such 
power  and  wisdom,  such  majesty  and  sweetness,  that  all 
His  hearers  were  filled  with  wonder  and  admiration.  The 
expression  of  the  evangelist, — "  the  gracious  words  which 
proceeded  out  of  His  mouth,"  is  descriptive,  more  in  the 
Greek  than  in  the  English,  of  a  certain  charm  of  elocu- 
tion which  distinguished  this,  and,  doubtless,  all  other  dis- 
courses of  our  Lord.  In  His  teaching,  matter  and  manner 
were  exquisitely  suited  to  each  other ;  great  and  beauti- 
ful and  divine  thoughts  were  clothed  in  fitting  words,  and 
uttered  with  a  voice  of  thrilling  power  and  sweetness. 
Every  word  came  forth  from  those  holy  lips  full  of  life 
and  music ;  for  the  fulness  of  the  godhead  dwelt  in  Him 
bodily. 

The  hearers  were  at  first  captivated.  Their  j)rejudiccs 
were  for  a  moment  almost  overcome,  and  they  listened 
with  unaffected  delight  to  their  youthful  neighbor.  They 
marveled,  but  did  not  believe  ;  for  after  a  little  while  there 
was  a  reaction  of  the  vulgar  jealousy  and  spite  which  had 
for  a  few  moments  been  charmed  away,  and  they  began  to 
say,  one  to  another  :  '*'  Whence  hath  this  man  this  wisdom 
and  these  mighty  works  ?  Is  not  this  the  carpenter's  son  ? 
Is  not  His  mother  called  Mary  ?  and  His  brethren,  James, 
and  Joses,  and  Simon,  and  Judas  ?  and  his  sisters,  are  they 
not  all  with  us?"*  "This  young  man,"  say  they,  "this 
Jesus,  the  carpenter,  who  has  lived  among  us  from  his 
childhood,  who  has  made  our  ploughs  and  yokes,  and  re- 
paired our  houses,  whom  we  have  so  often  seen  in  our 
streets  with  saw  and  hammer,  is  giving  Himself  strange 
airs.  He  sets  himself  up  for  our  teacher  and  prophet. 
We  never  saw  anything  wondei-ful  in  Him.  We  have 
always  known  Him  as  a  poor  artisan.  And  then,  there  is 
nothing  in  His  family  to  warrant  this  assumption  of  su- 

*  Matthew  xiii.  54-50. 


JESUS    KEJECTED    AT   NAZAEETIl.  231 

peilority.  We  can  count  up  His  brothers  and  sisters  on 
our  finger's ;  and  as  for  His  mother,  we  know  her  well  • 
her  name  is  Mary.  Now,  all  at  once,  He  has  become  a 
rabbi,  and  is  followed  by  disciples.  They  talk  about  His 
miracles  ;  we  never  saw  any  ;  let  Him  work  miracles  here 
and  now."  And  so  the  people  were  offended  in  Him.  It 
does  not  appear  that  any  believed  in  Him.  Nay,  His 
own  brothers, — so  they  were  called,  according  to  Jewish 
custom,  though  they  were  probably  but  cousins,* — did  not 
become  His  disciples  till  a  much  later  period  ;  and  it  would 
seem,  that  on  one  or  two  occasions  afterwards,  they  opposed 
Him. 

When  our  Lord  perceived  the  altered  tone  of  feeling  in 
the  assembly,  He  said  to  them :  "  Ye  will  surely  say  unto 
me  this  proverb :  Physician  heal  thyself;  whatsoever 
we  have  heard  done  in  Capernaum,  do  also  here  in  thy 
country."  They  were  greedy  for  signs ;  they  were  in- 
credulous and  contemptuous ;  they  regarded  it  as  absurd 
that  One  whom  they  had  known  so  long,  and  as  they 
thought,  so  well,  should  have  suddenly  become  a  great 
prophet  and  miracle-worker.  Should  the  carpenter's  son 
teach  them  ?  Let  Him  teach  Himself  first.  Let  Him  not 
assume  to  know  so  much  more  and  be  so  much  better  than 
His  neighbors.  At  least,  let  Him  give  us  a  sign  ;  let  Him 
do  such  miracles  here  as  rumor  says  He  has  done  in  Ca- 
pernaum. "Let  Him  heal  Himself  in  the  persons  of  His 
own  countrymen  here  at  home,  if  He  would  have  them 
do  Him  homai^e.  Let  Him  free  Himself  from  the  mean- 
ness  of  His  own  family  relationships,  if  He  would  have  us 
regard  Him  as  the  Saviour  of  the  nation."  f 

But  Jesus  could  not  gratify  their  appetite  for  marvels 
without  violating  a  fundamental  principle  of  His  ministry; 

"*  This,  as  the  more  probable  view,  is  here  adopted.     A  discussion  of  the 
question  involved  would  be  foreign  to  the  design  of  this  book. 
tLauge's  "Life  of  Christ,"  vol.  2,  page  360. 


232  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

and,  tlioreforc,  He  rebukes  them  sharply  for  their  unbelief, 
and  points  out  its  cause.  lie  shows  them  that  there  is 
nothing  surprising  in  His  being  rejected  by  His  own  towns- 
men, because  no  prophet  is  honored  in  his-  own  country, 
and  among  his  own  kindred.  The  greatest  prophets  of 
old  had  been  rejected  by  their  own  countrymen.  In  the 
great  famine  in  the  time  of  Elijah,  among  all  the  widows 
in  Israel,  none  had  been  miraculously  relieved  except  a 
woman  in  Sarepta,  a  Gentile  city.  And  in  the  days  of 
Elisha,  not  a  leper  was  healed  in  Israel  except  Naaman, 
the  Syrian.* 

This  discourse,  so  direct,  pointed  and  severe,  enraged 
the  people  of  Nazareth.  Was  Jesus,  then,  a  great  prophet 
like  Elijah  and  Elisha  ?  Were  they  spiritually  blind  and 
incorrigible,  like  those  idolators  of  old,  and  therefore  to  be 
passed  by  in  the  gracious  visitations  of  God.  They  would 
not  bear  the  arrogance  of  this  insolent  upstart;  and  so 
they  rose  up  in  wrath,  and,  casting  Him  out  of  the  syna- 
gogue,— which  was  excommunication, — they  thrust  Him 
out  of  the  city — which  was  outlawry, — and  hurried  Him 
to  a  precipice  near  the  city,  and  were  about  to  take  His 
life  by  casting  Him  down  headlong.  But  now,  just  as 
the  powers  of  darkness  seemed  about  to  triumph  in  the 
certain  destruction  of  the  divine  preacher,  they  were  un- 
expectedly foiled  and  covered  with  confusion ;  His  adver- 
saries were  suddenly  smitten  with  supernatural  terror, 
and  deprived  of  all  power  to  execute  their  murderous 
purpose.  They  seem  to  have  been  unnerved  and  para- 
lyzed, by  a  momentary  outflashing  of  that  divine  majesty 
which  was  hidden,  not  extinguished,  by  the  veil  of  our 
Lord's  humanity. 

"  They,  astonished,  all  resistance  lost, 
All  courage  ;' 

*  Soc  Luke  iv.  24-27. 


JESUS    REJECTED    AT    NAZARETH.  233 

and  Jesus,  passing  through  the  mklst  of  them,  went  His 
wa}^  This  was,  with  one  prohable  exception,*  the  hist 
visit  which  Jesus  made  to  that  hardened  and  guilty  city. 
For  well  nigh  thirty  years,  the  Son  of  God  had  dwelt 
among  them  unrecognized ;  and  now  they  drove  Him 
away  with  violence  and  outrage.  Henceforth,  they  seem 
to  have  been  given  over  to  hopeless  unbelief  0  yo  im- 
happy  people  of  Nazareth,  why  did  ye  not  know  the  day 
of  your  gracious  visitation? 

To  some,  wdio  judge  with  eyes  of  sense,  this  narrative 
will  seem  involved  in  grave  difficulties.  They  will  regard 
it  as  unaccountable,  or  as  even  incredible,  that  the  Lord 
of  glory  should  have  lived  so  many  jemrs  among  men, 
and  have  been  all  the  while  overlooked  and  unknown  by 
His  daily  associates,  even .  by  His  familiar  friends  and 
kinsfolk.  There  must  have  been — so  they  reason — some- 
thing so  extraordinary,  so  unearthlj',  in  the  person  and 
bearing  of  the  God-man, — there  must  have  been  such 
wisdom,  purity  and  majesty  apparent  in  all  His  w^ords  and 
actions,  as  to  inspire  all  who  saw  Him  with  reverence  and 
aw^e.  It  will  perhaps  seem  to  such  persons  a  suspicious 
circumstance  that  the  near  neighbors,  the  very  relations 
of  Jesus,  did  not  believe  in  Him. 

It  is  indeed  a  very  startling  fact,  though  for  other  rea- 
sons than  those  just  mentioned,  that  the  people  of  Naza- 
reth, even  those  who  knew  our  Lord  best, — His  blessed 
mother  always  excepted — never  during  so  many  years  sus- 
pected that  He  was  a  divine  person,  nor  even  a  prophet, 
but  always  looked  upon  Him  as  a  common  man.  Let  it 
be  noted,  also,  that  this  fact, — according  to  human  judg- 
ment so  discreditable  to  our  divine  Master, — is  either 
carefally  recorded,  or  plainly  alluded  to  by  all  the  evan- 
gelists.    How,  then  shall  we  account  for  both  these  facts  ? 


*See  Matthew  siii.  54-58.     Mark  vi.  1-6. 


234  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

As  to  the  latter,  the  evangelists  might  easily  have  sup- 
pressed the  fact.  Impostors  would  have  done  so.  But 
they  were  not  impostors.  They  were  thoroughly  honest 
and  impartial.  This  very  narrative  is  the  best  proof  i^os- 
sible  of  their  simple,  straightforward  veracity. 

As  to  the  fact  itself,  it  becomes  perfectly  clear  in  the 
light  which  the  Scriptures  themselves  cast  upon  it.  It 
ought  not  to  strike  us  as  strange  or  unaccountable,  that 
the  Son  of  God  lived  so  long;  at  Nazareth  unreco";nized ; 
for  the  Nazarenes  were  'inen  ;  and  men  had  been,  for  four 
thousand  years,  blind  to  divine  manifestations.  How  could 
those  who  had  not  before  known  God,  recognize  Him  as 
manifest  in  the  flesh.  From  the  beginning,  God  left  not 
Himself  without  witness  on  earth ;  for  the  Word, — the 
same  Word  who  dwelt  personally  in  Christ, — "  was  in  the 
world,  and  the  world  was  made  by  Him,  and  the  world 
knew  Him  not."  He  had  by  Hi.*  Spirit  garnished  the 
heavens,  kindled  the  stars,  ensj)hered  the  earth  in  air,  bal- 
anced the  clouds,  bound  the  seas  as  with  chains,  ribbed 
the  land  and  propped  the  heavens  with  everlasting  mount- 
ains, clothed  the  hills  with  forests,  and  the  valleys  with 
cornfields,  and  filled  air,  earth,  and  ocean  with  joyous  life. 
Above  all.  He  had  formed  man  in  His  own  image,  and  en- 
dowed him  with  intelligence  and  free  will,  and  the  power 
to  love,  and  the  capacity  for  religion,  and  immortality,  as 
well  as  with  outward  beauty  and  majesty.  The  Word  was 
in  the  world,  a  ubiquitous  Spirit  of  life,  light,  law,  har- 
mony, goodness — vivifying  all,  actuating  all,  governing 
all,  Ijlessing  all,  but  ''the  world  knew  Him  not."  What 
wonder  that  when  "  He  came  to  His  own,  His  own  received 
Him  not  ?" 

We  are,  moreover,  not  to  forget  the  manner  of  His  ap- 
pearing among  them.  He  did  not  embody  Himself  to 
their  view  in  a  form  of  terrible  glory ;  He  did  not  speak 
to  them  in  a  voice  like  the  sound  of  many  waters  or 


JESUS    REJECTED    AT    NAZARETH.  235 

mighty  thunderings ;  but  He  first  appeared  among  them 
as  a  little  child,  helpless  and  dependent,  like  other  chil- 
dren,— the  child  of  Joseph  the  carpenter,  and  Mnry.  He 
ate  and  drank  and  slept  and  dwelt  in  His  humble  home 
like  a  human  creature.  He  increased  in  wisdom  and 
stature ;  grew  up  from  infancy  to  boyhood,  from  boyhood 
to  youth,  and  was  all  the  wdiile  subject  to  His  parents. 
He  appeared  on  earth  a  true  man ;  He  was  in  all  respects 
made  like  unto  His  brethren,  sin  only  excei^ted.  And  this 
exception  was  not  one  to  strike  the  attention  of  the  mul- 
titude. They  could  indeed  have  decided  that  any  person 
guilty  of  open  wickedness  w^as  not  an  apostle  and  prophet 
of  God;  but  the  mere  absence  of  sin  in  the  outward  life 
would  scarcely  be  observed ;  for  man}^  are  blameless  in 
their  moral  conduct  who  are  far  from  sinless.  Holiness 
is  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul,  and  though  fruitful  in  good 
works,  is  hidden  from  the  eyes  of  the  world. 

Still  further,  Jesus  continued  in  a  private  and  obscure 
condition  for  thirty  years.  He  wrought  no  miracles ;  He 
did  not  j)ublicly  teach ;  He  was  in  all  things  obedient 
and  faithful ;  but  He  did  not  avow  His  Divine  Sonship, 
nor  challenge  attention,  nor  demand  homage  of  those 
around  Him.  The  feeling  of  His  neighbors  towards  Him 
was  probably  one  of  pix)found  esteem,  unless  indeed  they 
thought  Him  enthusiastic  and  eccentric.  This,  however, 
they  could  not  have  done ;  for  His  perfectly  developed 
and  symmetrical  manhood  would  not  have  made  such  an 
impression,  even  on  the  most  stupid  and  wrong-minded 
among  them.  But  while  they  thus  respected  Jesus  as  a 
singularly  pure  and  pious  young  man,  how  could  they, 
being  evil  and  ignorant,  have  discerned  in  Him  the  only 
begotten  Son  of  God  ? 

It  sounds  like  a  paradox,  but  is  nevertheless  quite  true: 
the  people  of  Nazareth  knew  not  Jesus  because  they  knew 
Him  so  well.     Why  is  it,  that  some  of  our  daily  associates, 


236  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

inmates  perhaps  of  our  own  homes,  have  a  less  vivid 
impression  of  our  true  characters,  perhaps  even  of  our 
physiognomy,  than  com^^arative  strangers !  We  say  com- 
parative  strangers,  for  considerable  acquaintance  is  of 
course  supposed.  Those  who  are  with  us  continually 
soon  become  accustomed  to  our  peculiarities  of  feature, 
deportment,  speech  and  character,  and  after  awhile,  they 
cease,  for  that  very  reason,  to  notice  them.  An  eccentric 
man  hardly  seems  eccentric  to  his  wife  and  children. 
Those  who  have  been  brought  up  iii  the  midst  of  grand 
and  beautiful  scenery  would  fail  to  write  as  graphic  a 
description  of  it  as  a  traveler  from  a  distant  country. 
We  cease  to  observe  what  is  familiar.  So  it  was  with 
James  and  Joses  and  Judas  and  Simon,  the  brothers  of 
our  Lord.  They  had  been  with  Him  in  the  house  and 
the  workshop  many  years.  His  humility  and  meekness, 
His  piety  and  active  goodness,  were  continual  and  unin- 
terrupted, like  the  course  of  nature.  They  ceased  to 
wonder  at  His  virtues  because  they  were  uniform,  just  as 
they  never  wondered  at  seeing  the  moon  and  the  stars  in 
the  sky,  or  the  sun  rise  and  set.  A  single  wrong  action 
in  Jesus  would  have  shocked  them  like  an  earthquake ; 
but  they  no  more  wondered  at  the  absence  of  such  an 
action  in  Him,  than  that  no  earthquake  disturbed  the 
serene  tranquility  of  the  landscape.  Had  He  been  in  a 
slight  degree  imperfect.  His  transcendent  goodness  would 
have  been  better  appreciated.  In  all  these  respects,  then, 
the  people  of  Nazareth  were  like  human  beings  the  world 
over.  Reader,  they  were,  .perhaps,  not  unlike  you  and 
me. 


CHAPTER    II. 
JESUS   ON  THE  WAY  TO   CAPERNAUM. 

JESUS  DEPARTS  FOR  CAPERNAUM — PRESSED  BY  THE  MULTITUDE  OX  THE 
SHORE  OF  THE  LAKE,  HE  TEACHES  THEM  FROM  A  BOAT— HIS  DIS- 
COURSE FINISHED,  HE  DIRECTS  HIS  DISCIPLES  TO  LAUNCH  FORTH  AND 
CAST  THEIR  NETS — THE  MIRACULOUS  DRAUGHT  OF  FISHES — PETER'S 
ASTONISHMENT  AND  SELF-REPROACHFUL  CONFESSION — JESUS  QUIETS 
HIS  APPREHENSION — THE  TRANSACTION  AN  ACTED  PARABLE — THE  EF- 
FECT  OF   IT   ON   THE    DISCIPLES — REFLECTIONS. 

Rejected  at  Nazareth,  Jesus  departs  for  Capernaum, 
teaching  the  people  who,  attracted  by  His  growing  fame, 
gathered  about  Him,  from  the  adjacent  cities  and  villages. 
On  one  occasion,  as  He  was  passing  along  the  shore  of 
Lake  Gennesaret,  the  multitude  so  pressed  upon  Him 
that  it  became  annoying,  and  even  prevented  His  speak- 
ing to  them  effectively.  Seeing  an  empty  boat  at  hand 
which  belonged  to  Peter,  He  entered  it,  and  requested 
him  to  thrust  out  a  little  from  the  land.  Sitting  thus  in 
the  boat,  at  a  convenient  distance  from  the  crowd.  He 
taught  them.  The  scene  is  one  worthy  of  a  Christian 
painter.  There,  in  that  boat,  we  see  the  saintly  form  of 
the  Divine  Teacher ;  all  along  the  shore,  crowding  to  the 
water's  edge,  and  leaning  forwnrd  with  fixed  gaze  and 
attentive  attitude,  to  hear  the  words  of  Him  who  spake 
as  never  man  spake,  we  behold  the  multitude  of  long- 
robed,  turbaned,  bearded,  wild-looking  Galileans.  They 
follow  His  words  with  breathless  interest,  now  giving  ut- 
terance to  low  murmurs  of  doubt  or  perplexity,  and  now 
breaking  out  into  exclamations  of  surprise  or  approval. 


238  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

When,  at  length,  Jesus  had  finished  His  discourse,  He 
directed  Peter  to  launch  the  boat  into  deeper  water,  and 
let  down  the  nets  for  a  draught.  Peter,  not  in  a  spirit  of 
unbelief,  perhaps,  but  yet  without  much  faith,  replied  that 
they  had  toiled  all  night  without  success ;  yet,  as  He  had 
commanded  it,  they  would  cast  the  nets  and  make  another 
effort.  The  boat  moves  off  from  the  shore  into  the  deeper 
water.  Peter  is  at  the  helm.  He  goes  mainly  out  of 
deference  to  his  Master.  As  an  old  fisherman,  he  knows 
tliat  appearances  do  not  promise  success.  Nevertheless, 
when  they  reach  the  proper  place  they  let  down  the  nets, 
and  lo,  the  multitude  of  fishes  taken  is  so  great  that  they 
can  not  draw  them  into  the  boat  without  help ;  so  they 
beckon  to  their  partners  in  the  other  boat  to  come  to 
their  assistance.  When  the  net  is  finally  drawn  in,  the 
haul  is  found  to  be  prodigious ;  both  boats  are  loaded  to 
the  water's  edge :  they  begin  even  to  sink. 

Peter,  who, — as  well  as  his  partners  in  the  other  boat, 
James  and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee, — was  all  tlie  while 
stupefied  with  wonder  and  astonishment,  now  remem- 
bered his  former  unbelief  and  his  half-reluctant  obedience, 
and  falling  upon  his  knees  before  Jesus  broke  out  into 
language  of  mingled  surprise,  alarm,  and  self-reproach : 
"  Depart  from  me ;  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  0  Lord."  *  This 
manifestation  of  the  divine  power,  in  the  exercise  of  his 
own  trade,  was  characteristic  of  divine  operations  gen- 
erally in  the  history  of  Christianity;  he  was  thus  led 
from  the  carnal  to  the  spiritual.  All  his  previous  impres- 
sions were  revived  and  deepened  by  this  sudden  exhibi- 
tion of  the  power  of  a  word  from  Christ ;  and  the  Saviour 
appeared  so  exalted  that  he  felt  himself  unworthy  to  be 
near  Him.  The  divine  power  appears  fearful  in  its  holi- 
ness to  the  sinner  who  is  conscious  of  his  sinfulness;  it 

*Lukev.  8. 


JESUS  ON  THE  WAT  TO  CAPERNAUM.       239 

fills  liim  with  consternation — he  shrinks  back  with  tremb- 
ling.* To  feel  himself  in  the  immediate  2^rese}ice  of  a 
Divine  Being,  as  Christ  had  just  proved  Himself  to  be, 
caused  Peter  to  cry  out,  in  language  like  that  of  the 
people  to  Moses,  when,  at  the  giving  of  the  law,  they 
removed  and  stood  afar  off:  ''Let  not  God  speak  with  us, 
lest  we  die."t 

In  all  this,  however,  Peter  was  yet  in  a  legal  state, 
under  the  bondage  of  fear  and  trembling  in  the  presence 
of  God.  He  had  not  attained  to  that  higher  state  in 
which  divine  manifestations  do  not  terrify,  but  melt  the 
heart  into  tenderness  and  love.  Into  that  higher  state 
Jesus  now  invites  him:  "Fear  not;  from  henceforth  thou 
shalt  catch  men  ; "  t  or,  as  Matthew  has  it :  "  Follow  me  ; 
and  I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men."§  From  this  it 
appears  that,  this  entire  transaction  is  to  be  regarded  as 
an  acted  parable.  Jesus  appears -as  i\\Q  Master  Fisher- 
man ;  Peter  and  his  partners  as  servants  and  helpers ; 
unregenerate  men  as  the  fish ;  and  the  worldly  and  sinful 
life  the  troubled  element  in  which  they  dwell.  These 
last,  it  is  the  great  purpose  of  the  gospel  ministry  to 
catch,  not  for  death,  but  life,  as  indeed  the  Greek  word 
here  used  signifies ;  that  is,  to  raise  them  from  a  lower  to 
a  higher  element ;  from  the  foul  and  earth-laden  waters 
of  sin  to  the  pure  and  heavenly  atmosphere  breathed  by 
saints  and  angels,  and  by  God  Himself  "  I  will  make 
you  fishers  of  men;"  "Leave  these  boats  and  nets;  you 
are  chosen  to  preach  my  gospel  to  all  the  world ;  and  the 
gospel  shall  be  as  the  net  you  have  just  cast;  it  shall 
enclose  a  great  multitude  of  men ;  for  I,  who  just  now 
guided  the  fish  into  your  net  by  an  influence  that  you 

*Neander's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  pages  163  and  164. 
t  Exodus  XX.  19. 
tLuke  V.  10. 
§  Matthew  iv.  19. 


240  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

could  not  understand,  am  able,  by  a  secret  operation  of 
grace,  to  incline  the  hearts  of  men  to  believe  the  "word 
which  you  shall  preach.  Therefore,  fear  not ;  for  by  my 
assistance  you  shall  be  more  successful  in  your  new  and 
heavenly  calling  than  you  have  just  now  been  by  the 
same  assistance  in  your  secular  trade." 

That  this  was  the  real  purport  of  the  whole  transaction ; 
and  that  it  was  so  understood  by  the  disciples,  Simon  and 
Andrew,  is  evident  from  the  effect  which  it  produced  upon 
them.  At  the  call  of  Jesus,  they  immediately  left  their 
boats,  their  nets,  their  little  all,  and  from  that  moment 
followed  Jesus  constantly,  and  with  almost  unswerving 
faith  and  fidelity.  A  similar  effect  was  produced  upon 
James  and  John,  who  were  at  a  little  distance  in  a  ship, 
mending  their  nets,  and  to  whom  Jesus,  just  after,  ex- 
tended the  same  call,  "  They  immediately  left  the  ship, 
and  their  father,  and  followed  Him."*' 

Now,  it  can  not  but  be  seen  that  there  is  something 
most  wonderful  in  all  this.  Suppose  that  some  far-seeing 
prophet  had  been  standing  on  the  shore  of  Gennesaret, 
an  eye-witness  of  these  transactions,  and  in  company  with 
an  Athenian  philosopher.  Turning  to  the  philosopher, 
the  seer  calls  his  attention  to  the  boat  in  which  Jesus  sits, 
with  Peter,  eager,  earnest,  watchful,  at  his  side.  "See  you 
that  young  man,"  says  he,  "  clad  in  coarse  garments,  but 
so  meek  and  tranquil  in  countenance,  on  whose  words  His 
companion  hangs  with  such  strange  reverence,  with  such 
mingled  wonder  and  delight  ?  A  few  months  ago  He  was 
a  carpenter  in  a  village  a  few  miles  beyond  those  hills :  a 
few  years  hence.  He  will  be  revered  as  a  Divine  Teacher, 
and  worshiped  as  the  incarnate  God,  by  nations  that  never 
heard  of  Socrates  and  Plato,  of  Zeno  and  Epicurus.  A 
religion  called  by  His  name  will  extend  its  influence  over 

*  Matthew  iv.  22. 


JESUS  OX  THE  WAY  TO  CAPERNAUM.       24l 

the  whole  world  ;  its  holy  worship,  its  solemn  rites  and  cer- 
emonies, will  be  celebrated  in  gorgeous  temples,  when  the 
crmnbling  structures  of  your  own  Acropolis  shall  be  looked 
upon  with  mingled  regret  and  abhorrence,  as  the  beautiful 
relics  of  an  unholy  superstition.  And  the  fisherman  who 
sits  in  the  same  boat,  and  who  lives  yonder  in  Capernaum, 
will  hereafter  preach  the  doctrines  of  this  Nazarene  artisan 
to  thousands  upon  thousands  of  eager  disciples,  in  Jeru- 
salem, in  Babylon  and  in  imperial  Rome.  One  of  those 
young  men  in  the  other  boat, — the  son  of  that  old  gray- 
bearded  fisherman  yonder, — will  write  books  in  your  own 
Greek  tongue, — albeit  not  in  classic  style, — which  will  be 
earnestly  studied  by  millions  of  devout  readers,  thousands 
of  years  after  he  is  dead  ;  and  which,  translated  into  other 
tongues,  shall  exercise  a  living  and  powerful  influence  on 
the  civilized  world,  when  the  boasted  productions  of  your 
poets,  historians  and  philosophers  shall  be  looked  upon  as 
dead  classics,  and  be  confined  to  the  schools  of  the  learned. 
The  time  will  come  when  the  name  of  this  carpenter,  and 
of  these  fishermen,  will  have  more  authority  in  Rome  itself 
than  that  of  emperor  or  god.  A  long  succession  of  mighty 
potentates  will  wage  implacable  war  with  the  religion  now 
being  founded  by  this  obscure  Galilean ;  but  the  might 
of  legions  and  the  arts  of  statesmen  shall  prove  powerless 
to  impede  its  progress ;  and  a  few  generations  hence,  the 
throne  of  the  Cassars  will  be  filled  by  a  disciple  of  this 
same  Jesus,  the  Son  of  Mary.  Even  the  name  of  Simon 
Peter,  the  fisherman  of  Galilee,  will  be  more  potent  and 
venerable  in  Rome  than  that  of  any  sage,  orator,  consul  or 
emperor  known  in  her  whole  proud  annals."  What,  think 
you,  would  have  been  the  emotions  of  the  philosopher 
as  he  listened  to  a  prophecy  like  this  ?  He  would  have 
treated  it  with  silent  contempt:  his  proud  lip  would  have 
ciu-led  with  a  sneer;  not  a  word  would  he  have  deigned 

to  utter  in  reply.     His  inner  thought  would  have  been, 
16 


242  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

"what  fanatics,  what  fools  these  Jews  are?"  and,  so  he 
would  have  turned  away,  not  knowmg  that  "God  hath 
chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the 
wise;  and  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the 
w^orld  to  confound  the  things  which  are  mighty;  and 
base  things  of  the  world,  and  things  which  are  despised, 
hath  God  chosen,  yea,  and  things  which  are  not,  to  bring 
to  naught  things  that  are ;  that  no  flesh  should  glory 
in  His  presence."* 

*  1  Corinthians  i.  27-2d. 


CHAPTER    III. 

JESUS  AT   CAPERNAUM. 

JESUS  GOES  TO  CAPERNAUM — HIS  FAVORABLE  RECEPTION — EFFECT  OF  HIS 
TEACHING THE  DEMONIAC — EXTENT  AND  TERRIBLE  EFFECTS  OF  DE- 
MONIACAL POSSESSION — THE  DEMON  RECOGNIZES  THE  SON  OF  GOD — 
JESUS  REBUKES  HIM  AND  CASTS  HIM  OUT — THE  AMAZEMENT  OF  THE 
PEOPLE  —  JESUS  HEALS  PETER'S  WIFE'S  MOTHER  —  THE  EXCITEMENT 
PRODUCED     BY     THESE     MIRACLES  —  PICTURES     ILLUSTRATIVE     OF     THE 

PREVALENT    FEELING THE    VIEW   GIVEN  BY  THESE  EVENTS  OF  CIIRISt'S 

ACTIVITY — THE    RELATION   OF    HIS    EXERCISE  OF  THE  GIFT  OF  HEALING, 
TO    HIS    MISSION. 

Teachiistg  by  the  way,  as  has  been  narrated  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter,  our  Lord  at  length  arrived  at  Capernaum, 
to  which  place  His  mother  and  His  brethren  seem  not  long 
afterwards  to  have  followed  Him.  Indeed,  this  flivored 
city  became  the  place  of  His  residence  during  the  re- 
mainder of  His  Galilean  ministry.  In  this  region  and  at 
this  time  Jesus  encountered  little  or  no  opposition.  The 
healing  of  the  nobleman's  son  was  doubtless  well-known 
to  the  people,  and  the  report  of  our  Lord's  proceedings 
while  on  the  way  from  Nazareth  had  probably  reached 
them  in  advance,  and  prepared  them  to  give  Him  a  favor- 
able reception.  Hence,  He  was  everywhere  received  with 
enthusiasm.  Wherever  He  went,  the  people  were  drawn 
to  Him,  and  hung  upon  His  lips  with  wonder  and  delight. 
His  striking  presence  and  peculiar  manner  made  this  less 
strange.  Never  had  such  words  before  been  heard, — 
words  full  of  love  and  life  and  joy, — for,  in  truth,  He  was 
the  word  made  flesh,  and  all  His  utterances  were  divinely 


244  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

true  and  beautiful.  His  hearers  could  not  but  mark  the 
contrast  between  His  teachings  and  those  of  their  scribes, 
who  rehearsed  only  the  scholastic  and  traditional  glosses 
on  the  law  and  the  prophets ;  whereas  He  spoke  with  au- 
thority as  a  lawgiver,  and  with  infallible  assurance  as  a 
true  and  faithful  witness,  declaring  what  He  knew  and 
testifj'ing  what  He  had  seen.  All  who  were  not  blinded 
by  prejudice  were  charmed  by  that  blended  majesty  and 
meekness  of  wisdom,  that  conjunction  of  divine  purity 
and  tender  compassion,  which  were  disclosed  in  all  His 
sayings. 

Soon  after  Jesus  came  to  Capernaum,  we  find  Him  in 
the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  day.  There  happened  to 
be  in  the  congregation  a  man  who  was  suffering  from  a 
mysterious  and  terrible  disease.  He  was  a  demoniac;  — 
that  is  to  say,  he  was  possessed  by  an  evil  spirit,  who  had 
obtained  the  mastery  over  his  soul  and  body,  and  had 
indeed  come  into  so  intimate  a  relation  with  him,  that  the 
miserable  wretch  seemed  to  himself  to  have  a  double 
personality.  His  sufferings  were  horrible  beyond  descrip- 
tion. Epilepsy,  insanity,  convulsions,  deafness  and  many 
other  aihnents,  were  the  ordinary  effects  of  this  visitation. 
This  unhappy  man  was  but  one  of  a  great  multitude,  in 
that  age,  who  were  similarly  afflicted.  The  fallen  spirits 
seem  to  have  had  extraordinary  power  over  that  genera- 
tion. Yearning, — as  perhaps  all  evil  spirits  do,* — after  a 
corporeal  and  sensuous  life,  they  had  found  means  to  cross 
the  gulf  Avhich  separates  the  world  of  spirits  from  the 
world  of  sense  ;  and  had  gained  possession  of  innumerable 
men  and  women,  and  even  children,  whom  they  found 
physically  and  morally  susceptible  to  their  influence. 


*See  Isaac  Taylor's  "Physical    Theory  of  another  Life."     Tt  in  many 
years  since  I  read  that  remarkable  book.     Its  republicatinn  is  a  desideratum 

of  the  present  time. 


JESUS    AT    CAPERNAUM.  245 

The  subjects  of  this  mfluence  became  objects  of  terror 
and  loathing  to  themselves  and  their  friends  ;  and  many 
of  them  fled  from  their  homes  and  wandered  naked  in  the 
deserts,  and  among  the  tombs.  They  were  the  terror  of 
travelers.  None  could  hear  their  despairing  cries  without 
shuddering.  The  malady  was  then  among  the  Jews  as 
it  is  not  unlikely  to  become  in  our  own  day,  a  stern  and 
dreadful  reality,  more  to  be  feared  than  any  natural 
disease  or  epidemic,  like  plague  or  Asiatic  cholera. 

Such  was  the  disease  of  the  demoniac  in  the  synagogue. 
The  demon  was  conscious  of  a  divine  and  holy  presence 
in  the  assembly ;  he  felt  the  approach  of  a  heavenly  power 
by  which  he  was  judged  and  punished ;  he  knew  the  seed 
of  the  woman, — the  Serpent-bruiser — the  Son  of  God, — and 
cried  out,  using  the  organs  of  his  victim :  "  Let  us  alone ! 
What  have  we  to  do  with  Thee,  Thou  Jesus  of  Nazareth ; 
art  Thou  come  to  destroy  us  ?  I  know  Thee,  who  Thou 
art,  the  Holy  One  of  God."*  Thus  the  powers  of  hell 
recognize  their  Judge  and  Destroyer;  thus  they  recoil 
from  their  doom.  They  are  unwilling  to  relinquish  their 
prey,  hence  the  outcry.  The  purpose  of  the  demon  in 
this  case  was  to  bring  suspicion  on  Jesus,  and  to  precipi- 
tate the  great  conflict  by  a  premature  disclosure  of  His 
divine  character.  But  Jesus,  who  would  not  receive  tes- 
timony from  Satan,  said  to  the  demon :  "  Hold  thy  peace 
and  come  out  of  him."  f  The  evil  spirit  knew  the  voice 
of  power ;  he  could  not  resist  it,  and  so,  enraged  and  de- 
spairing, he  threw  the  man  on  the  ground,  racked  him 
with  convulsions,  forced  from  him  fearful  inarticulate 
cries,  and  came  out  of  him.  The  sufferer  was  now  healed 
in  body  and  soul. 

Great  was  the  amazement  of  the  people  who  had  wit- 
nessed this  conflict   and  victory.      This  seems  to  have 

*  Luke  iv.  34.  t  Luke  iv.  35. 


246  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

been  the  first  cure  of  the  kmd  that  Jesus  wrought,  and 
they  therefore  crowded  together,  and  exclaimed  with  one 
voice :  "  What  a  word  is  this  ?  for  with  authority  and 
power  He  commandeth  the  unclean  spirits  and  they 
come  out."  *  Yes,  ye  people  of  Caj^ernaum,  it  is  a  word 
of  power !  It  sounds  through  all  the  regions  of  hell ; 
and  the  grisly  principalities  and  powers  tremble  and  cry 
out  under  this  first  stroke  of  that  iron  rod  which  shall 
dash  them  to  shivers  like  a  potter's  vessel ! 

After  the  synagogue  service,  Jesiis,  accompanied  by 
James  and  John,  went  to  the  house  of  Simon  Peter 
and  Andrew,  who  were  citizens  of  Capernaum.  Finding 
Peter's  mother-in-law  sick  of  a  violent  fever.  He  stood 
over  her,  and  uttered  the  menacing  yet  healing  word, 
which  thrilled  through  her  life  as  if  He  was  rebuking  an 
evil  spirit  in  the  disease.  Then  taking  her  by  the  hand, 
He  lifted  her  up,  and  the  fever  instantaneously  left  her. 
Conscious  of  the  cure,  and  full  of  gratitude,  she  prepared 
a  festive  entertainment  for  her  Holy  Guest.  By  this  time, 
the  humble  dwelling  of  Peter  had  become  the  centre  of 
interest  for  all  Capernaum.  Tlie  talk  in  every  house  was 
of  the  wonderful  cure  of  the  nobleman's  son  a  few  day  s 
before,  of  the  demoniac  in  the  synagogue,  and  concerning 
the  mighty  Avords  of  Jesus  and  the  meek  majesty  of  His 
presence.  Hope  is  stealing  into  many  a  sick  room,  and 
mantling  with  a  flush  of  joy  the  pallid  face  of  many  an 
invalid.  Reader,  let  us  in  imagination,  pass  through  the 
city  during  these  closing  hours  of  the  Sabbath,  and  note 
the  feeling  awakened  among  the  people,  by  the  presence 
of  the  Divine  Healer.  In  one  house  lies  a  wasted,  dying 
girl.  Hearing  of  the  cures  wrought  by  the  new  Prophet, 
she  beckons  her  mother  to  her  couch,  and  with  one  hand 
stilling  her  throbbing  heart,  with  the  other  so  thin  and 

*  Luke  iv.  30. 


JESUS    AT    CArERNAUM.  247 

white,  she  draws  down  her  mother's  head  and  whispers, 
"Do  you  not  think  that  Jesus  can  cure  mef  I  wish  you 
would  have  me  carried  to  the  house  of  Simon.  They  say 
Jesus  is  gentle  and  kind;  surely  Pie  would  lay  His  hand  on 
me  and  heal  me."  In  another  house  the  husband  comes 
to  his  bed-ridden  wife,  who  has  been  long  chained  down 
by  paralysis,  kisses  her  pale  cheek  and  says,  "My  poor 
wife,  this  morning  I  saw  Jesus  of  Nazareth  heal  a  poor 
demoniac  in  the  synagogue,  and  since  the  service  He 
has  cured  Simon's  mother-in-law  of  a  raging  fever.  I 
have  faith  that  He  can  cure  you.  If  you  are  willing, 
I  will  take  you  in  my  arms  this  evening  and  carry  you 
to  Simon's  house."  She  assents,  while  a  tear  steals  down 
her  cheek.  In  still  another  house,  the  father  and  mother 
whisper  sadly  together  about  their  son,  who  is  a  raving 
maniac,  even  now  shrieking  and  tearing  himself  in  the 
next  room  \  and  they  determine  when  the  sun  sets  to 
carry  him  to  Jesus.  And  then,  there  is  the  blind  boy 
whom  every  body  loves  and  pities,  and  the  lame  beggar 
w^ho  crawls  about  on  crutches,  and  the  leper  who  dwells 
apart,  and  many  others,  scattered  through  the  city,  all 
beo-innino;  to  wonder  whether  Jesus  can  not  heal  them. 
Capernaum  is  indeed  wrought  up  to  a  pitch  of  extra- 
ordinary excitement.  Many  hearts  are  throbbing  with 
mingled  hope  and  fear.  At  last  the  sun  sets,  and  the 
Sabbath  is  ended.  And,  behold,  the  streets  are  full  of 
people, — men,  women  and  children,  old  and  young,  many 
borne  on  couches  and  in  the  arms  of  their  friends,  all 
jSowing  in  an  unbroken  stream  to  the  humble  dwelling 
of  Simon  the  fisherman.  The  door  stands  wide  ojDcn : 
they  press  into  the  presence  of  the  Great  Physician ;  He 
lays  His  hands  on  every  one  of  them,  and  heals  them  all. 
It  is  probable  that  until  a  late  hour  of  the  night,  the 
people  continued  to  press  into  the  presence  of  Jesus  and 
were  healed  by  Him. 


248  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

"  Wh«at  an  insight  does  the  account  of  this  day,  so  marked 
by  deeds  of  love  and  mercy,  give  us  into  the  nature  of  our 
Lord's  ministry  in  Gahlee !  What  holy  activities,  what 
ceaseless  acts  of  mercies !  Such  a  picture  does  it  give 
U3  of  their  actual  nature  and  amount,  that  we  may  well 
conceive  that  the  single  day,  with  all  its  quickly  succeed- 
ing events,  has  been  thus  minutely  portrayed  to  show  us 
what  our  Redeemer's  ministerial  life  really  Avas,  and  to 
justify,  if  need  be,  the  noble  hyperbole  of  the  beloved 
Apostle,  that  if  the  things  which  Jesus  did  should  be 
written,  every  one,  the  world  itself  could  not  contain 
the  books  that  should  be  written."  * 

As  our  history  advances  Jesus  comes  more  and  more 
into  view  as  the  Healer  of  diseases.  A  large  portion  of 
His  time  seems  to  have  been  taken  up  in  relieving  the 
bodily  wants  and  maladies  of  men.  This  may  at  first 
strike  us  as  surprising;  but  a  little  reflection  will  con- 
vince us  that  it  fell  in  with  the  great  purpose  of  His 
mission.  He  came  into  the  world  to  destroy  the  works 
of  the  devil,  to  overthrow  the  kingdom  of  evil.  The 
Scriptures  teach  us  that  all  the  physical  sicknesses  and 
sufferings  of  mankind,  and  death  itself,  spring  from  the 
moral  corruption  of  human  nature — from  the  sinful  life 
of  the  race  ;  in  other  words,  that  they  have  their  root  in 
original  sin,  which  implies  an  influx,  according  to  a  natu- 
ral, hereditary  susceptibility,  of  satanic  evil  and  misery 
into  every  individual  of  the  human  family.  "The  world 
lieth  in  the  Wicked  One."  t  All  disease  comes  fix)m  sin ; 
not,  indeed,  in  all  cases  from  the  actual  transgressions  of 
the  individuals  afflicted  ;  nevertheless,  fVom  sin.  Natural 
evil  is  moral  evil  passed  over  from  the  spiritual  world  to 
the  material ;  it  is  sin  overflowing  the  soul  and  working 
destruction  in  the  body ;  it  is  the  outerm.ost  blossoming, 

*Ellicott's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  page  160.  t  See  1  John  v.  19. 


JESUS    AT    CAPEENAUM.  249 

or  rather  the  ripening  fruit  of  that  great  tree  of  heredi- 
tary depravity  M'hich  strikes  its  roots  into  the  burning 
marl  of  hell.  "  Sin,  when  it  is  linished,  bringeth  Ibrth 
death."* 

Now  as  the  sin  of  the  first  Adam  was  the  beginning 
of  disease  and  mortality  in  the  world,  it  was  fitting  that 
the  second  Adam  should  be  a  fountain  of  health  and  life. 
And  such  w^as  Jesus.  His  very  body  was  a  reservoir  of 
healing  virtue.  To  touch  His  flesh  was  to  be  made  whole ; 
for  He  gave  His  flesh  for  the  life  of  the  v)orld.  This  is 
what  we  should  have  expected  in  a  Eedeemer  who  came 
to  abolish  death  and  destroy  him  that  hath  the  power  of 
death ;  that  is,  the  devil.  Jesus,  as  the  Son  of  man,  had 
the  deepest  sympathy  with  men  in  their  sufferings.  Whatr 
ever  hurt  humanity  in  any  of  its  members,  wounded  Him. 
Milton,  in  a  terribly  realistic  passage  of  the  Paradise  Lost, 
represents  Adam  as  beholding  and  lamenting,  in  a  vision, 
the  diseases  and  sufferings  of  his  posterity : — 

"  Immediately  a  place 
Before  his  eyes  appeared,  sad,  noisome,  dark ; 
A  lazar-house  it  seemed,  wherein  were  laid 
Numbers  of  all  diseased  ;  all  maladies 
Of  ghastly  spasm,  or  racking  torture,  qualms 
Of  heart-sick  agony,  all  feverous  kinds. 
Convulsions,  epilepsies,  fierce  catarrhs. 
Intestine  stone  and  ulcer,  colic  pangs, 
Demoniac  frenzy,  moping  melancholy, 
And  moon-struck  madness,  pining  atrophy. 
Marasmus  and  wide-wasting  pestilence. 
Dropsies  and  asthmas  and  joint-racking  rheums  ; 
Dire  was  the  tossing ;  deep  the  groans ;  despair 
Tended  the  sick,  busiest  from  couch  to  couch. 
Sight  so  deformed  what  heart  of  rock  could  long 
Dry-eyed  behold  ?     Adam  could  not,  but  wept. 
Though  not  of  woman  born."  f 

*  James  i.  15.  t  Paradise  Lost,  book  xi.  line  467. 


250  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST.  ' 

No^y  all  this  burden  of  human  infirmities  and  sicknesses, 
Jesus  bore  through  symj)athy  with  His  brethren — a  sym- 
pathy" which  prompted  and  qualified  Him  to  be  the 
GuEAT  PiiYSiciAisr.  Further,  it  was  by  these  miracles 
of  healing  that  our  Lord  largely  carried  on  His  great 
work  of  saving  men  from  their  sins.  The  cures  which  He 
wrought  generally,  if  not  universally,  extended  to  the 
souls  of  men ;  He  healed  the  whole  man.  The  healing 
was,  in  fact,  but  part  of  that  full  salvation  which  He  came 
to  bestow.  We  cannot  imagine  that  any  of  those  who 
were  healed  by  Christ  rejected  Him  as  their  Saviour ;  and 
we  know  that  many  of  them  became  His  devoted  and 
faithful  followers.  Such  a  demonstration  of  His  love  to 
them,  and  of  His  supernatural  power,  could  not  but  win 
their  lasting  gratitude  and  obedience. 

Christ's  miracles  of  healing  were  also  essential  to  His 
self-revelation,  as  the  incarnate  Word,  in  whom  was  the 
life  of  men.  Every  cure  was  in  itself  a  demonstration  of 
the  highest  spiritual  truth,  that  in  Him  dwelt  all  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  bodily.  His  works  were  not  only 
attestations  of  His  authority  as  a  teacher,  but  they  were 
essential  parts  of  His  teaching.  The  life  which  went  forth 
from  Him  as  the  Healer,  was  the  light  of  men. 


CHAPTER    IV. 
JESUS   HEALING   THE  LEPER. 

JESUS  AT  KARLY  DAWN  WITHDRAWS  INTO  A  SOLITARY  PLACE  TO  PRAY — 
THE  MULTITUDE  SEEK  HIM  — HE  REFUSES  TO  TARRY  AT  CAPERNAUM, 
AND  ENTERS  ON  HIS  FIRST  MISSIONARY  CIRCUIT — SCANTINESS  OF  THE 
SACRED  NARRATIVE  AS  TO  HIS  LABORS — THE  LEPROUS  MAN — HE  COMES 
TO  JESUS  AND  PRAYS  TO  BE  HEALED — JESUS  HEALS  HIM — WHY  JESUS 
TOUCHED  HIM — WHY  JESUS  CHARGED  HIM  TO  TELL  NO  MAN — THE  LEPER 
SPREADS  THE  NEWS  ABROAD — THE  MIRACLE  INDICATIVE  OF  CHRIST'S 
SELF-CONSCIOUS  MASTERY  OVER  DISEASE — SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE 
MIRACLE. 

Short  were  the  slumbers  of  Jesus,  after  the  labors  of 
the  precedmg  day.  Long  before  dawn  He  silently  left 
His  bed,  and  went  to  a  solitary,  desert  place,  probably  on 
a  neighboring  mountain,  "  and  there  prayed."  Though 
He  was  the  Son  of  God,  He  felt  the  need  of  frequent 
seclusion,  even  from  the  society  of  friends  and  disciples, 
to  refresh  His  soul  and  recruit  His  physical  vigor  in  un- 
interrupted communion  with  the  Father.  While  He  was 
thus  engaged  in  solitary  devotion,  the  multitude  again 
thronged  to  Peter's  house ;  but  not  finding  Him  whom 
they  sought,  Peter,  already  as  it  would  seem  familiar 
with  his  Master's  habits,  and  not  doubting  whither  and 
for  what  purpose  He  had  gone,  led  the  way  to  the  place 
of  His  retirement.  Fearing  that  He  was  about  to  leave 
them,  they  earnestly  entreated  Him  to  remain  in  Caper- 
naum. Deeming  it  wise,  however,  to  let  the  popular  ex- 
citement subside  till  calm  reflection  should  prepare  the 
way  for  that  divine  doctrine  which  He  longed  to  impart, 


252  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

our  Lord  declared  that  His  mission  required  Him  to  preach 
the  kingdom  of  God  to  other  cities  and  villages.  So,  with- 
out returning  to  Capernaum,  He  entered  on  what  has  been 
called  His  first  missionary  circuit.      • 

As  this  journey  occurred  before  the  calling  of  Matthew, 
and,  possibly,  before  Peter  and  John  entered  into  active 
service,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  accounts  given  of  it  by 
the  evangelists  are  exceedingly  brief  and  general.  In- 
deed, of  its  details,  with  the  exception  of  one  incident,  we 
really  know  nothing.  It  would  appear,  however,  that  our 
Lord  went  from  village  to  village  of  that  densely  peopled 
region,  everywhere  teaching  in  the  synagogues  and  work- 
ing miracles.  Every  day  probably  resembled,  in  its  be- 
neficent activities,  that  memorable  Sabbath  in  Capernaum. 
The  people  welcomed  Him  with  enthusiasm ;  nay,  many 
flocked  to  Him  from  distant  places,  even  from  Judea  and 
Perea.  A  single  miracle,  vihioh.  prohcibly  belongs  to  this 
journey,*  is  narrated  by  the  evangelists : 

While  Jesus  was  passing  through  a  certain  city, — the 
multitude  not  being  at  the  time  with  Him, — there  came 
to  Him  a  man,  as  Luke  the  physician  states,  "  full  of  lep- 
rosy." His  skin  cracked  and  peeled  and  disclosing  the  raw 
flesh  beneath  ;  his  body  covered  with  ulcerous  tumors ;  his 
joints  stiff*  and  swollen  ;  his  eye-balls  red  and  fixed  in  their 
sockets  ;  his  breath  fetid  and  his  voice  husky  like  that  of  a 
dog  hoarse  with  long  barking; — all  these  symptoms  proba- 
bly marked  him  as  the  victim  of  an  extreme  form  of  that 
terrible  disease.  Living  corpse  as  he  was,  his  mental  suf- 
ferings must  have  been  of  an  aggravated  kind.  Excluded 
from  the  concrreffation  as  unclean ;  avoided  with  horror 
by  those  wlio  had  been  his  dearest  friends ;  compelled  to 
warn  off  all  those  who  approached  him,  by  crying  with 

*Sce  Andrews'  "Life  of  Christ,"  pages  223  and  224;  see,  also,  Robin- 
eon's  "  Harmony,"  page  24. 


HEALING  OF  THE  LEPER.  253 

hoarse  and  hollow  voice,  "unclean,  unclean  ;"  he  had  wan- 
dered about  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  with  rent  garments, 
head  bare  and  lips  covered,  a  helpless,  hopeless  outcast, 
until  Ufe  had  become  a  burden  and  a  loathino;.  At  leny;th, 
however,  a  faint  hope  dawned  upon  his  weary  and  despair- 
ing spirit.  He  had  heard  of  the  gracious  miracles  wrought 
by  Jesus.  Perhaps  he  had  witnessed  some  of  them.  He 
may  have  hung  around  the  outskirts  of  the  multitude, 
on  several  occasions,  when  Jesus  was  healing  the  sick. 
The  question  had  occurred  to  him :  "  Why  can  not  this 
Great  Physician  heal  me  ? "  The  thought  took  such  hold 
upon  him  that  he  watched  for  an  opportunity  when, 
the  mviltitude  being  absent,  he  might  venture  into  the 
presence  of  Jesus. 

And  now  the  time  has  come,  and  with  eager,  trembling 
haste,  lest  the  approach  of  some  one  should  compel  him  to 
withdraw,  he  comes  to  Jesus,  and  falling  prostrate  before 
Him,  with  upturned,  imploring  eye,  he  murmurs  in  hoarse, 
broken  accents  :  "  Lord,  if  Thou  wilt  Thou  canst  make  me 
clean."  *  Never  was  prayer  more  artless,  direct,  eloquent ; 
never  did  any  prayer  breathe  a  truer  faith  or  a  deeper 
pathos.  What  wonder  that  Jesus  was  touched  with  com- 
passion ;  that  He  felt  drawn  towards  tlie  outcast  from 
whom  all  men  shrank  with  horror,  and  that  putting  forth 
His  hand  and  touching  him,  He  gave  an  answer,  patterned 
after  the  sufferer's  prayer:  "I  will;  be  thou  clean."!  By 
that  touch,  healing  virtue  was  imparted ;  for  immediately 
the  leprosy  departed  from  him.  His  loathsome,  putrefj'- 
ing  skin  became  like  the  skin  of  a  little  child ;  his  blood, 
so  lately  creeping  sluggishly  through  his  veins  a  polluted 
and  poisonous  stream,  now  courses  joyously  and  full  of 
life  through  his  body;  the  leper  feels  that  he  is  healed. 
What  wonder  that,  though  Jesus  charged  him  to  tell  no 

*  Luke  V.  12.  tLiikev.  13. 


254  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

man,  he  could  not  restrain  his  joy;  that  he  could  not 
keep  to  himself  the  wonderful  cure  which  had  been 
wrought  in  him ! 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Jesus,  in  violation  of  the  cere- 
monial law,  touched  the  leper.*  This  was  through  no 
forgetfulness  of  the  prohibition.  That  was  doubtless  de- 
signed to  prevent  a  ceremonial  defilement,  and,  possibly, 
communication  of  the  disease  to  others.  No  such  precau- 
tion was  necessary  in  the  case  of  Jesus.  That  life-giving 
hand  could  contract  no  defilement,  no  disease.  Besides, 
Jesus  was  Lord  of  symbols  and  ceremonies;  as  He  was 
Lord  of  the  Sabbath.  In  the  prosecution  of  this  work 
as  Redeemer,  He  would  be  bound  by  no  positive  com- 
mands which  He  came  both  to  fulfill  and  abrogate. 

Why  Jesus  charged  the  leper  to  tell  no  man,  is  a 
question  which  has  elicited  from  commentators  many  in- 
genious conjectures,  the  most  probable  of  which  is  that  sug- 
gested by  Grotius  and  Bengel,  and  endorsed  by  Trench.f 
"  See  thou  tell  no  mem  till  thou  hast  shown  thyself  to  the 
priests ;  lest  if  a  rumor  of  these  things  go  before  thee, 
the  priests  at  Jerusalem,  out  of  envy,  out  of  a  desire  to 
depreciate  my  work,  may  deny  either  that  thou  wast 
before  a  leper,  or  else  that  thou  art  now  truly  cleansed." 
The  striking  remark  of  Lange  is  also  worth  quoting : 
"  The  man  should,  in  the  first  instance,  say  nothing  of  the 
touching  which  had  taken  place,  because  by  that  he 
Avould  expose  the  Lord  to  the  necessity  of  undergoing  a 
Levitical  quarantine  for  the  sake  of  the  more  timid 
among  the  people.  But  he  might  with  prudence  let  the 
priests  know  that  he  had  been  healed  miraculously  by 
Jesus  after  the  healing  had  ]yeen  certified  to  them  hy  the 
official  declaration  and  the  acceptance  of  the  ofiering; 
so  that  he  could  bring   forth  a  testhnony  unto  them.,  be- 

*  Leviticus  xiii.  40.  f  Trench  on  Miracles,  page  180. 


KEALING    OF    THE    LEPEK.  255 

cause  otherwise,  in  consequence  of  their  former  ill-feehng 
toward  Jesus,  they  might  have  been  inclined  to  question 
the  reaUty  of  the  cure.  So  the  leper  should  provide  him- 
self with  that  attestation  before  he  told  of  the  miraculous 
aid  of  our  Lord."* 

Aside  from  all  this,  it  is  not  improbable  that  other  con- 
siderations had  weight  with  Jesus.  It  was  not  in  accord- 
ance with  the  divine  humility  of  His  nature,  either  to 
court  or  to  countenance  the  vulgar  popularity  which  was 
likely  to  arise  from  the  noisy  proclamation  of  His  mighty 
works.  Besides  this,  He  would,  doubtless,  set  an  example 
for  His  disciples,  especially  for  His  ministers  in  all  ages, 
to  whose  piety  and  real  usefulness  all  such  popularity 
must  prove  a  fatal  snare.  It  is  not  unlikely  also,  that  He 
regarded  it  as  important  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the 
man  who  was  healed,  that,  instead  of  dissipating  his  re- 
ligious feelings  by  empty  talk,  he  should  ponder  the  deep 
significance  of  the  miracle  in  silence,  and  in  thankful 
communing  with  the  Father  of  all  mercies,  who  had  thus 
given  him  life  from  the  dead.  Having  thus  charged  the 
now  cleansed  leper,  Jesus  forthwith  sent  him  away.  But 
the  man  found  his  joy  too  great  to  be  smothered  in  silence ; 
and  in  mere  grateful  and  loving  loquacity, — it  would 
seem, — he  blazed  the  matter  abroad,  till  the  excitement 
of  the  people  ran  so  high,  and  the  concourse  of  the  multi- 
tude became  so  great,  that  Jesus  was  compelled  to  retire 
into  the  wilderness  where  he  prayed.  This  brief  nar- 
rative therefore  opens  and  closes  with  a  view  of  Jesus 
praying  in  the  wilderness. 

This  miracle  is  in  two  aspects  highly  suggestive.  We 
note  the  conscious  mastery  over  all  the  powers  of  life  ex- 
pressed in  the  words  of  Christ ;  "  I  wiU ;  be  thou  clean." 
The   word    followed    swift   as  lightning  on  the  pra^-er, 

*  Lange's  "  Life  of  Christ." 


256  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

sovereign,  miglit}^,  decisive.  It  was  an  instantaneous  out- 
flash  of  a  will  conscious  of  unlimited  energy.  There  is  no 
reflection,  no  hesitation,  no  preparation ;  but  all  the  con- 
fidence of  power  that  never  distrusts  itself  AVas  not 
this  the  Son  of  God  ?  Again,  in  all  its  deep-seated  and 
incurable  loathsomeness,  the  leprosy  was  eminently  a  vivid 
type  of  sin.  Like  that,  it  is  in  the  nature  of  sin  to  poison 
the  very  fountain  of  life  in  both  body  and  soul,  and  to 
work  through  every  fiber  of  the  being  a  most  revolting 
corruption,  from  Avhich  holy  beings  can  not  but  shrink 
with  horror,  and  which  must  exclude  its  .victim  forever 
from  the  society  of  those  yet  uncontaminated.  And 
neither  in  the  sinner  himself,  nor  in  human  pity  and 
power,  is  there  any  alleviation  or  cure.  Only  in  Jesus  is 
there  help  or  hope  for  the  leprous  soul.  To  Him  the 
sinner  must  come  ;  to  Him,  even  in  his  utter  helplessness 
and  despair  he  may  come ;  with  only  the  pitiable  appeal 
of  his  misery,  and  the  simple  prayer:  "Lord,  if  Thou  wilt 
Thou  canst  make  me  clean,"  he  shall  not  in  vain  approach 
the  Divine  Physician ;  his  cure  is  certain ;  the  life-giving 
word  wdll  be  spoken, — "  I  will ;  be  thou  clean." 


.CHAPTER    V. 

JESUS  HEALS  THE  PARALYTIC  AT   CAPERNAUM. 

JESUS  AGAIN  AT  CAPERNAUM,  SURROUNDED  BY  THE  MULTITUDE — A  PAR- 
ALYTIC IS  BROUGHT  TO  HIM — JESUS  DECLARES  HIS  SINS  FORGIVEN — 
THE      PHARISEES     SECRETLY     CENSURE     IT     AS     BLASPHEMY — READING 

THEIR    HEARTS,    JESUS     REBUKES    THEM    AND    HEALS    THE    SICK     MAN 

THE    EFFECT    ON    THE    PEOPLE THE    PARALYTIC  A  REPRESENTATIVE    OF 

MAN  AS  SINFUL  AND  SUFFERING THE  DEEP-SEATED  AND  INERADICA- 
BLE EVIL  OF  SIN — EXPIATION  AND  FORGIVENESS  NOWHERE  IN  NATURE 
OR  HUMANITY — BOTH  FOUND  IN  JESUS — THE  PROBLEM  HOW  TO  GAIN 
ASSURANCE  OF  FORGIVENESS — EXTERNAL  ASSURANCE  OF  GOD'S  PLACA- 
BILITY— INTERNAL  ASSURANCE — KNOWN  BY  ITS  EFFECTS — ASSURANCE 
NOT   ALWAYS   EQUALLY   CLEAR. 

After  having  spent  some  portion  of  the  summer, — 
how  much  is  not  indicated  by  the  evangeHsts, — in  this 
His  first  missionary  circuit,  our  Lord  returned  to  Caper- 
naum. His  return  excited  universal  interest  and  enthusi- 
asm, and  a  multitude  gathered  about  Him, — some  of  them 
persons  afflicted  with  disease,  who  came  to  be  healed  by 
Him; — others  scribes,  Pharisees,  and  doctors  of  the  law, 
drawn  not  only  from  different  parts  of  Galilee,  but  from 
Judea  and  Jerusalem  itself,  who  had  gathered  together  at 
the  house  where  He  lodged,  to  listen  to  His  teachings  and 
to  learn  His  peculiar  views  and  projects. 

The  friends  of  a  certain  paralytic,  hearing  that  Jesus 
Avas  in  the  city,  and  remembering  the  M'onderful  miracles 
of  healing  which  He  had  wrought  there  not  long  before, 
resolved  to  carry  the  sufferer  on  his  bed  to  the  Great  Phy- 
sician.    Approaching  the  house,  they  found  it  so  thronged 

with  people,  within  and  without,  that  it  was  impossible  to 
17 


258  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

enter.  Not  to  be  thwarted  in  their  charitable  purpose, 
they  ascended  to  the  flat  roof  of  the  house,  and,  removing 
some  of  the  tiles,  made  an  opening  large  enough  to  let 
down  the  couch  into  the  room  where  Jesus  sat. 

Our  Lord  was  struck  with  the  evident  faith  of  the  friends 
of  the  paralytic,  and  with  the  appearar^ce  of  the  sick  man 
himself  From  the  peculiar  language  which  He  subse- 
quently used,  it  would  seem  that  He  sympathized  with 
him,  not  only  as  afliicted  Avith  a  painful  bodily  disease, 
but  also  as  burdened  with  a  sense  of  sin,  the  root  of  this 
and  all  other  maladies.  Perhaps  the  disease  had  come 
upon  him  in  consequence  of  some  particular  vice :  if  not, 
it  was  certainly, — by  a  connection  more  or  less  remote, — 
the  fruit  of  moral  depravity.  Of  one  or  the  other,  the 
man  was  painfully  conscious ;  and  hence  he  came  to  Jesus, 
full  of  sorrow  on  account  of  sin,  yearning  less  for  bodily 
than  spiritual  healing.  His  inmost  want, — and  this  Jesus 
knew  full  well, — yva.s  forgiveness. 

Coming  thus  into  His  presence,  it  is  impossible  for  words 
to  express  the  deep  and  tender  interest  which  filled  the 
heart  of  Jesus  in  his  behalf,  and  the  look  of  compassionate 
love  which  beamed  upon  His  countenance.  The  poor  par- 
alytic uttered  not  a  word,  breathed  not  a  syllable  of  a 
prayer, — perhaps  he  was  not  able  to  do  so, — but  to  Jesus 
his  dumb  misery  and  sorrow  were  more  eloquent  than 
any  words.  Jesus  at  once  tenderly  addressed  him,  mainly 
regardful,  however,  of  the  hidden  and  deeper  sorrow  of 
his  heart : — "  Son,  be  of  good  cheer ;  thy  sins  are  forgiven 
thee."*  Happy  sufferer!  would  that  we  had  been  in  thy 
place;  that  those  peace-giving  words  could  have  beeii 
spoken  to  us ! 

This  declaration,  sweeter  to  the  sick  man  than  heavenl}' 
harpings,  fell  gratingly  on  the  ears  of  the  unbelieving 

*  Matthew  ix.  1. 


HEALING  OF  THE  PARALYTIC.  259 

Pharisees.  "  Why,"  said  they  to  themselves,  "  cloth  this 
man  thus  speak  blasphemies  ?  Who  can  forgive  sins  but 
God  only?"*  They  had  a  true  insight  into  the  nature 
of  forgiveness ;  they  knew  that  to  forgive  sins,  was  an  in- 
communicable prerogative  of  God ;  they  knew  that  for  a 
creature  to  snatch  at  this  prerogative,  was  aggravated 
blasphemy;  and  regarding  Jesus  as  a  mere  creature, 
they  could  not  but  think  Him  a  blasphemer.  They  kept 
their  thoughts,  however,  locked  within  their  own  breasts. 
Jesus,  knowing  in  His  spirit  that  they  reasoned  thus  in 
their  hearts,  proceeded  to  give  them  a  visible  demonstra- 
tion of  His  power  to  forgive  sins.  Assuming  that  they, 
with  all  their  unbelief,  would  recognize  a  necessary  rela- 
tion between  His  sovereign  power  over  the  effect  and 
His  assumed  prerogative  over  the  cause,  He  said  to  them ; 
"  Whether  is  it  easier  to  say,  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee ; 
or  to  say.  Arise  and  walk  ?  But  that  ye  may  know  that 
the  Son  of  Man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins, 
(then  saith  He  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy,)  Arise,  take  up 
thy  bed  and  go  unto  thine  house."!  And  the  command 
penetrated  to  the  very  seat  of  life  in  the  sick  man's  na- 
ture ;  his  will,  spiritually  renovated,  regained  the  mastery 
over  the  nerves  and  muscles  of  his  palsied  frame,  and  he 
at  once  arose,  took  up  his  couch  and  went  to  his  house. 

The  hour  was  not  only  a  happy  one  for  the  suffering 
paralytic,  but  it  was  a  glorious  one  for  Jesus.  Not  only 
had  He  evinced  His  power  to  relieve  the  physical  suffer- 
ings of  mankind,  but  He  had  conclusively  demonstrated 
His  divine  right  to  relieve  them  from  their  spiritual  dis- 
tresses ;  to  forgive  their  sins,  and  to  take  away  the  bur- 
den of  sin  from  their  heart.  This  He  had  done  with  such 
unmistakable  authority  and  power  that  it  carried  convic- 
tion to  the  hearts  of  the  people ;   for  "  They  were   all 

*Mark  ii.  7.  f  Matthew  ix.  5,  6. 


260  THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

amazed,  and  glorified  God,  saying,  We  never  saw  it  on 
this  fashion."  '* 

The  paralytic  may  stand  as  a  representative  of  both 
fallen  and  redeemed  humanity;  and  the  story  of  his 
cure,  (thanks  to  the  Holy  Comforter  for  inditing  it!)  may 
teach  us  most  interesting  and  important  lessons.  He  was 
diseased  in  body  and  soul;  a  sinner  and  a  sufferer; 
equally  miserable  and  helpless.  He  had  a  polluted  soul 
imprisoned  in  a  diseased  and  suffering  body :  thus  his  two- 
fold nature  was  under  the  empire  of  evil,  and  he  had  no 
power  to  redeem  himself  In  these  respects  he  was  a  type 
of  humanity  at  large. 

Then,  too,  though  not  a  word  is  recorded  touching  his 
former  history,  and  though  he  himself  gives  no  voice  to 
the  workings  of  his  heart,  we  know, — for  he  was  himself  a 
fragment  of  humanity, — one  of  us, — that  down  deep  in  the 
center  of  his  soul  there  was  an  agonizing  consciousness  of 
sin,  of  moral  disorder,  of  thralldom,  of  condemnation  ;  and 
there  was,  amidst  all  the  seeming  hopelessness  of  his  con- 
dition, an  unutterable  yearning  for  redemption.  0  thou 
poor  paralytic  brother,  though  no  word  of  thine  has  been 
borne  to  our  ears  across  the  gulf  of  centuries,  in  the  silence 
of  our  own  souls  we  hear  thy  dumb  wailings  and  entreat- 
ies, for  they  are  the  still,  sad  voice  of  humanity  itself,  in 
myriads  of  individual  souls,  agonizing  for  pardon  and 
peace. 

With  this  deep  consciousness  of  sin  and  suffering,  who 
does  not  feel  that  with  respect  to  redemption,  he,  too,  is  a 
helpless  paralytic  ?  Alas,  the  disease  of  sin  is  deep-seated 
and  defies  all  remedies  of  human  devising.  It  strikes  its 
roots  down  into  our  very  nature ;  it  thrusts  itself  with  its 
poisonous  growth  into  the  will  and  the  affections  ;  its  ten- 
drils take  fast  hold  upon  our  physical  being,  twine  around 

*Mark  ii.  12. 


HEALING    OF    THE    rAEALTTIC.  261 

our  habits, — those  deep  foundation-stones  of  character, — 
and  intertwist  themselves  with  all  the  fibers  of  our  im- 
mortality. We  can  not  escape  our  sins ;  we  can  not  con- 
quer them ;  we  can  not  even  forget  them ;  they  are  ever 
rising  to  our  view,  like  the  ghosts  of  the  murdered ;  they 
shake  their  gory  locks  at  us;  they  point  wath  skeleton 
fingers  to  our  coming  doom.  Oh  sin,  sin !  it  fills  all 
pillows  with  thorns,  and  pierces  every  heart  with  many 
sorrows. 

Yet  with  all  this  consciousness  of  sin,  when  the  stricken 
sinner  appeals  to  nature,  to  earth,  to  heaven,  for  expiation, 
and  an  assurance  of  forgiveness,  he  finds  neither.  The 
stars  are  dumb;  there  is  no  rain  in  the  sweet  heavens  to 
wash  away  the  stain  of  guilt.  The  cattle  upon  a  thousand 
hills,  offered  as  an  expiation ;  rivers  of  sacrificial  blood 
poured  out  upon  countless  altars, — not  all  this  can  cleanse 
the  conscience  or  extinguish  remorse.  Nor  does  the  voice 
of  angel  or  spirit  whisper :  "  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee." 
And  so  palsied  humanity  lies  helpless,  with  despairing 
wail  and  struggle,  under  the  burden  of  its  unexpiated 
guilt.  And  this,  until  it  is  brought  helpless,  and  in  mute 
penitence,  to  the  feet  of  Jesus.  There  it  finds  that  the 
"  Son  of  Man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins."  There 
only  it  gains  the  blessed  assurance  of  forgiveness ;  not  the 
assurance  of  a  mere  external,  judicial  pardon — of  a  legal 
release  from  condemnation  and  the  pains  of  hell,  but  some- 
thing more  sw^eet  and  heartfelt, — a  sense  of  forgiveness 
and  reconciliation  shed  abroad  in  the  heart, — forgiveness 
transitive  upon  the  sinner  himself — felt,  rejoiced  in,  and 
treasured  up  as  a  "hope  that  maketh  not  ashamed." 

The  paralytic  was  forgiven  first,  and  then  healed.  And 
so  in  all  cases,  forgiveness  sooner  or  later  draws  after  it 
deliverance  from  all  kinds  of  evil.  He  whose  transgres- 
sion is  forgiven,  whose  sin  is  covered,  to  whom  the  Lord 
doth  not  impute  iniquity,  will  sooner  or  later  be  delivered 


2G2  THE    LIFE    OF    CllKIST. 

from  all  the  bitter  consequences,  natural  as  well  as  moral, 
of  his  depravity.  He  is  made  an  heir  of  life ;  death  iw 
abolished;  he  is  assured  of  a  double  immortality, —  an 
immortality  of  both  soul  and  body.  The  act  of  forgive- 
ness, like  an  unfading  rainbow,  bends  over  all  the  ages 
of  his  immortality.  So  blessed  a  thing  is  it  to  hear  the 
voice  of  the  Son  of  Man  saying  to  us :  "  Son,  be  of  good 
cheer,  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee." 

But  the  question  naturally  arises,  how  does  the  forgiven 
spirit  thus  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  man?  How  is 
the  assurance  of  pardon  communicated  to  the  penitent 
sinner?  And  the  question  is  an  imjDortant  one;  for  there 
is  in  the  heart  of  every  man  in  a  natural  state  a  deep 
distrust  of  God's  placability  and  mercy,  as  Avell  as  a  fear 
of  His  justice  and  His  wrath.  With  this  instinctive  doubt 
in  the  human  soul  all  things  seem  to  conspire:  Nature 
gives  no  assurance,  not  even  a  hint  that  the  infinite  and 
holy  sovereign  of  the  universe  will  forgive  sin ;  the  law 
has  but  one  stern,  inexorable  voice  :  "  The  soul  that  sin- 
neth  it  shall  die."  How  to  overcome  this  distrust;  how 
to  inspire  a  guilty  soul  with  a  reasonable  hope  of  divine 
mercy ;  how  to  convince  a  rebel  yet  in  arms  that  God  is 
willing  and  waiting  to  be  gracious ; — this  w^as  one  of  the 
great  problems  which  Jesus  undertook  to  solve. 

In  the  prosecution  of  this  purpose.  He  made  a  clear,  full 
and  overpowering  external  manifestation  of  the  goodness, 
the  pity,  the  placability  of  God.  This  He  did  in  all  His 
teachings.  His  miracles.  His  sufferings.  His  death.  Who- 
ever saw  Him  in  the  flesh  could  no  longer  distrust  the 
mercy  of  God ;  for  Christ  was  divine  mercy  embodied 
in  human  form,  speaking  with  a  human  voice,  weeping 
human  tears,  stretching  forth  arms  of  human  tenderness 
and  pity  toward  the  lost  and  wretched,  and  pouring  out 
human  blood  upon  the  cross ;  all  to  manifest  the  forgiv- 
ing love  and  pity  of  God  towards  sinners.     His  death  has 


HEALING    OF    THE    PARALYTIC.  2G3 

been  well  and  touchingly  termed  "the  reconciliation- 
death;"  "For  He  made  His  soul  an  offering  for  sin;  He 
bore  the  sins  of  many,  and  made  intercession  for  the 
transgressors."*  And,  in  full  testimony  of  all  this,  the 
sinner  has  the  "gracious  words"  of  the  everlasting  gos- 
pel; the  ever-living  tokens  of  the  holy  sacraments,  and 
the  blood-washed  church  with  its  ministries  of  redeeming 
mercy. 

But  something  more  than  this  is  necessary  to  make  the 
general  declaration  of  forgiveness  personal :  to  bring  it 
home  with  fulness  and  certainty  to  the  individual  soul. 
"  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."  Here  the  narrative  of  the 
healing  of  the  paralytic  comes  to  our  aid.  He  and  his 
friends  had  heard  of  our  Lord's  power  and  kindness; 
they  had  a  general  assurance  of  His  ability  and  willing- 
ness to  heal.  Confiding  in  this,  they  came  to  Jesus. 
"When  He  saw  their  faith," — this  includes  the  sufferer 
himself, — "  He  said  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy :  Son,  be  of 
good  cheer,  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."  The  faith  of  the 
subject  preceded  the  definite  assurance  of  forgiveness. 
And  so  it  is  in  all  cases.  The  forgiving  mercy  of  God 
in  Christ  is  declared  generally  to  all  the  guilty  and  per- 
ishing. But  to  those  who  feel  their  guilt  and  misery, 
and  who,  with  eyes  fixed  on  the  cross,  cry:  "  God  be  mer- 
ciful to  me  a  sinner,"  there  is  granted  on  the  ground  of 
their  faith,  nay,  in  it,  a  direct  internal  assurance  of  their 
forgiveness. 

This  assurance  is  conveyed  by  no  supernatural  impres- 
sion, no  mysterious  voice.  It  is  recognized  rather  by  its 
effects,  of  which  this  is  the  sum :  it  is  peace.  The  sense 
of  guilt  is  taken  away ;  fear  gives  place  to  love ;  confi- 
dence supplants  distrust.  The  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad 
in  the  heart.    The  humble,  adoring  penitent  begins  to  ex- 

*  Isaiah  liii.  12. 


264  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

ercise  the  faith  of  appropriation.  His  hxnguage  is :  "I 
believe,  Lord,  that  thou  lovest  me,  that  thou  forgivest  me. 
Thou  hast  atoned  for  7ny  sins  ;  thou  hast  blotted  them  out 
as  a  cloud,  and  my  transgressions  as  a  thick  cloud.  1  hear 
thy  voice  saying  to  me  :  '  Son,  be  of  good  cheer,  thy  sins 
are  forgiven  thee.'  The  promises  are  made  to  me;  pardon 
and  life  and  salvation  are  sealed  to  me."  It  is  proper, 
however,  to  guard  against  the  error  of  assuming  that  this 
assurance  is  equally  vivid  in  all  justified  persons,  or  in  the 
same  saint  at  all  times.  Either  from  temperament,  con- 
dition or  actual  sin,  the  soul  may  at  times  be  plunged  into 
darkness  and  doubt.  Nevertheless  this  divine  testimony 
is  given  with  greater  or  less  clearness  to  every  child  of 
God ;  and  it  will  be  renewed  with  increased  distinctness 
as  often  as,  in  the  divine  discipline  of  the  soul,  it  seems 
desirable  for  its  spiritual  welfare. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

JESUS   REBUKES   THE   FORMALISM    OF   THE   PHARISEES. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  A  JUST  IDEA  OF  THE  SECT  OF  THE  PHARISEES — HUMAN 
NATURE  TENDS  TO  FORMALISM — JUDAISM  DESIGNED  TO  AWAKEN  A 
SENSE  OF  SIN  AND  A  LONGING  FOR  SPIRITUAL  DELIVERANCE — JUDAISM 
IN  THE  TIME  OP  JESUS  IN  ITS  DECLINE — THE  PHARISEES  —  THEIR 
EARLIER  POSTURE  TOWARDS  THE  MISSION  OF  JESUS — THEIR  FIRST 
OPEN  RUPTURE  WITH  HIM — JESUS  ABOUT  TO  JOIN  ISSUE  WITH  THEM — 
THE  CALLING  OF  LEVI — THE  FEELINGS  OF  THE  PHARISEES  TOWARDS 
THE  PUBLICANO — THEIR  VIEW  OF  THE  CALL  OF  LEVI  AS  AFFECTING 
THEM — THE  DISCIPLES  PLUCK  AND  EAT  CORN  ON  THE  SABBATH — THE 
PHARISEES  COMPLAIN  OF  IT  TO  JESUS — HIS  ANSWER — THE  IMPOTENT 
MAN — THE  PHARISEES  QUESTION  JESUS  ABOUT  HEALING  ON  THE  SAB- 
BATH— HE   RETORTS    UPON   THEM    WITH  ANOTHER  QUESTION — HE  HEALS 

THE       WITHERED       HAND THE      PHARISEES,      ENRAGED,      CONTEMPLATE 

OPEN    HOSTILITY — NECESSARY   CONFLICT    BETWEEN    CHRISTIANITY   AND 
FORMALISM. 

During  our  Lord's  residence  at  Capernaum,  several  in- 
cidents occurred  which  brought  Him  more  directly  than 
ever  before,  into  collision  with  the  Pharisees.  As  wo  shall 
find  them  especially  referred  to  in  our  Lord's  teachings, 
and  largely  concerned  in  the  hostile  movements  which  re- 
sulted in  the  violent  termination  of  His  career,  it  becomes 
almost  necessary  to  a  right  understanding  of  His  life,  that 
we  attain  just  views  of  this  remarkable  sect. 

Human  nature,  under  whatever  form  of  religion,  uni- 
versally tends  to  formalism.  After  a  positive  religion  has 
outlived  the  fervor  and  freedom  of  its  j^outh,  unless  coun- 
teracting forces  come  into  play,  it  will  crystallize  into  a  sys- 
tem of  frigid  dogmas  and  prescribed  ceremonies.     There 


266  THE    LIFE    OF    CHPJST. 

is  the  clearest  evidence  that  Judaism  was,  for  many  ages, 
full  of  vitality  and  power.  Faith  in  a  personal  Jehovah, 
the  living,  almighty,  holy,  faithful  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob  made  the  worship  of  the  Hebrew^s  spiritual  and 
earnest.  That  faith,  produced  a  deep  sense  of  inward 
discord  and  wretchedness,  such  as  is  described  in  Paul's 
epistle  to  the  Romans.*  This  awakened  a  longing  for 
some  divine  deliverance,  so  that  the  Jewish  mind  w\as  pre- 
pared to  give  credence  to  the  choral  voices  of  prophecy, 
singing  from  age  to  age  the  coming  Redeemer. 

But  it  was  not  only  the  mission  of  the  Jewish  system  to 
awaken  this  expectation  of  deliverance,  but  also  to  demon- 
strate its  own  utter  impotence.  Hence,  it  was  permitted 
to  become  old  and  effete  ;  to  harden  into  a  rigid  formalism, 
which  had  just  vitality  enough  to  serve  as  a  23oint  of  con- 
nection between  the  more  devout  and  susceptible  minds 
in  the  Jewish  nation  and  the  doctrines  of  Jesus.  One  fact 
sufficiently  demonstrates  that  Judaism  had  entered  upon 
this  final  stage,  when,  both  without  and  within,  it  w^as 
well-nigh  ossified.  We  refer  to  the  fact  that  the  sect  of 
the  Pharisees  had  come  to  be  almost  absolutely  predomi- 
nant throughout  the  nation.  Indeed,  it  was  indebted  for 
its  very  existence,  to  a  national  consciousness  of  decay  and 
incipient  dissolution.  Out  of  that  consciousness  arose  a 
fond  looking  back  towards  the  golden  age  of  the  theocracy, 
an  eager  catching  at  every  gleam  of  tradition,  an  anxious 
preservation  of  every  vestige  of  an  idolized  antiquity. 

Hence,  both  in  respect  to  doctrine  and  rites  of  worship, 
the  Pharisees  conformed  to  the  traditions  of  the  fathers. 
They  attached  less  and  less  importance  to  the  spiritual, 
and  even  to  the  moral  part  of  religion,  but  were  exact 
and  ostentatious  in  the  observance  of  mere  external  cere- 
monies.    They  were  ingenious  and  unwearied  in  finding 

*See  Romans  vii.,  passim. 


JESUS    REBUKES    PHARISAISM.  207 

grounds  for  excusing,  and  even  justifying  the  most  flagrant 
moral  delinquencies ;  while  they  were  intolerant  and  vin- 
dictive towards  all  who  were  chargeable  with  the  least 
infraction  of  their  traditions,  and  the  least  departure  from 
their  ceremonial  observances.  Their  ablutions,  their  fast- 
ings and  their  prayers ;  their  tithings  and  their  alms-giv- 
ings  were  all  according  to  rule,  and  were  regarded  as 
meritorious  in  themselves,  aside  from  the  state  of  the 
heart.  They  affected  an  intense  asceticism,  altogether 
alien  to  the  spirit  of  the  Mosaic  institutions,  and  to  the 
earlier  worship  of  Jehovah. 

The  people  regarded  their  reverence  for  tradition  as 
evincing  a  purer  nationality  of  feeling ;  they  accepted 
their  rigorous  asceticism  as  a  more  perfect  holiness. 
These  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  peculiar,  the  distin- 
guishing characteristics  of  the  sect,  and  drew  about  them 
the  wealth,  the  learning,  and  the  piety  of  the  nation. 
They  thus  came  to  be  an  organized,  numerous  and  pow- 
erful sect.  The  majority  of  the  priests  and  rulers  be- 
longed to  their  number ;  and  hence,  the  affairs  of  the  na- 
tion, both  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  came  under  their  almost 
supreme  control.  Their  schools  were  so  famous  that  the 
most  intelligent  young  men  of  the  nation  resorted  to 
them ;  many,  even,  like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  from  distant  lands. 
The  heads  of  the  sect,  among  whom  in  the  time  of  Christ 
was  Gamaliel  (for  m.ore  than  thirty  years  president  of  the 
Sanhedrim),  resided  in  Jerusalem  ;  but  a  multitude  of  ad- 
herents were  scattered  through  all  the  cities  and  villages 
of  the  Holy  Land.  These  were  everywhere  held  in  the 
highest  veneration,  and  were,  in  fact,  the  religious  teachers 
and  governors  of  the  people. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  understand  the  position  as- 
sumed by  the  Pharisees  with  regard  to  the  new  religion 
and  its  teachers.  Two  years  had  elapsed  since  John  the 
Baptist  began   to  preach   among  the    hills    of  Judea, — 


268  THE    LIFE    OF    cnPJST. 

"  Kepent  ye,  for  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand."  A 
laj-o-e  number  of  the  sect,  carried  away  by  the  general  en- 
thusiasm, had  come  to  his  baptism.  They  did  not  at  first 
oppose  him ;  they  never  did  so  openly.  Possibly,  many 
were  willing  to  believe  that  he  was  really  commissioned 
to  proclaim  the  advent  of  the  expected  Messiah.  Hence, 
when  Jesus  was  baptized  by  John ;  and  when  afterwards 
He  Avas  publicly  pointed  out  as  the  Messiah,  they  main- 
tained a  cautious  reserve.  They  neither  acknowledged 
nor  denounced  Him.  Events  had  not  yet  so  far  devel- 
oped His  true  character  or  claims,  as  to  render  either 
course  politic  or  necessary.  Hence,  they  took  precisely 
the  ground  which  we  should  have  expected  from  a  sect 
so  intelligent,  respectable  and  conservative :  they  treated 
Jesus  with  distant  courtesy,  listened  closely  to  His  dis- 
courses, witnessed  His  miracles  with  cold  curiosity,  and 
said  nothing. 

As  events  progressed,  however,  and  it  became  evident 
that  Jesus  was  not  a  person  likely  to  sympathize  with 
them,  or  to  contribute  to  their  prestige  and  power,  their 
suspicions  were  awakened,  and  they  became  really  hostile 
to  His  movements.  Yet,  as  He  seemed  to  be  a  strict  ob- 
server of  the  law^  and  was  evidently  possessed  of  super- 
natural powers,  they  were  unable  to  obtain  any  plausible 
hold  upon  Him,  and  were  therefore  deterred  from  evincing 
their  hostility  openly.  Hence  for  more  than  a  year  they 
permitted  Him  to  prosecute  His  mission  unmolested,  al- 
though they  kept  close  watch  upon  all  His  movements. 
Their  first  open  rupture  with  Him  occurred  in  connection 
with  the  healing  of  the  impotent  man  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
an  account  of  which  has  already-  been  given.  They  then 
became  satisfied  that  He  was  at  heart  hostile  to  them. 
They  assumed  that  He  was  opposed  to  the  law,  and  charged 
Him  with  blasphemous  assumption  in  calling  Himself  the 
Son  of  God, — a  title  which  they  held  could  be  claimed  by 


JESUS    REBUKES    PIIAIIISAISM.  2G9 

nuie  but  the  Messiah  Hmiself.  Against  Ilis  Messiuhship 
they  at  once  arrayed  themselves,  and  so — there  beinc  no 
alternative — settled  it  that  He  was  a  heretic,  a  blasphemer, 
and  a  seditious  leader.  They,  therefore,  at  once  took 
measures  which  looked  ultimately  to  the  destruction  of 
His  influence  with  the  people  and  to  His  judicial  murder. 

At  this  we  shall  be  less  surprised  when  we  reflect  that 
as  a  powerful  hierarchy  becomes  hollow  and  hypocritical, 
it  magnifies  the  importance  of  formal  orthodoxy.  A  de- 
parture from  the  established  creed  and  the  prevailing 
forms  comes  to  be  regarded  by  them  with  greater  horror 
than  open  profligacy.  In  process  of  time,  these  self-con- 
stituted guardians  of  orthodoxy  lose  their  power  to  dis- 
criminate between  error  and  mere  innovation — between 
reformation  and  heresy.  Every  one  who  refuses  to  sub- 
mit with  implicit  faith  to  their  decisions  will,  therefore, 
be  condemned  by  them  as  a  criminal,  and,  provided  the 
power  is  not  wanting,  will  be  punished  as  such.  ■  Hence, 
every  old  and  corrupt  sect  has  always  been  ready  to 
start  the  hue  and  cry  of  heresy  and  blasphemy,  whenever 
a  bold  and  zealous  reformer  has  risen  to  expose  and  re- 
buke its  corruption.  Witness  the  anathematizing  Church 
of  Rome,  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints.  Witness 
the  treatment  received  at  its  hands  by  Luther,  Melanc- 
thon,  Zwingle,  Cranmer,  and  even  Arnauld,  Pascal  and 
Savonarola,  to  say  nothing  of  hundreds  of  others  of  her 
own  communion  whose  complaint  and  outcries  were  sum- 
marily stifled  amidst  the  darkness  and  the  damps  of  her 
inquisitorial  dungeons.  It  matters  not  whether  it  be  a 
Papal  or  a  Pharisaical  hierarchy ;  human  nature  is  the 
same.  Hence,  Jesus  was  marked  out  for  persecution  and 
martyrdom. 

Such  was  the  posture  of  the  Pharisees  at  the  time  when 
this  part  of  our  narrative  opens.  There  Avas  imposed  upon 
Jesus  the  necessity  of  asserting  His  entire  independence 


270  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIKIST. 

of  them,  of  defending  Himself  against  their  attacks,  and  of 
immasking  their  coiTuption  and  hypocrisy.  Several  inci- 
dents occurred  during  His  sojourn  at  Capernaum,  which 
clearly  evinced  His  purpose  in  this  direction,  and  which 
had  the  effect  of  exasperating  them  in  the  extreme. 

The  high  road  from  Damascus  to  the  cities  along  the 
coast,  passing  by  Jacob's  bridge  over  the  Jordan,  ran 
thence  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Gennesaret,  and  through 
Capernaum.  On  this  road,  and  near  its  entrance  into  the 
city,  there  appears  to  have  been  a  place  of  toll.  Here  sat 
Levi,  a  publican,  one  of  the  Roman  tax-gatherers  so  hate- 
ful to  the  people.  Passing  near  the  place  one  day,  our 
Lord  observing  Levi,  who  is  believed  to  be  identical  with 
Matthew,  said  to  him,  "  Follow  me."  Obeying  the  divine 
call,  Levi  immediately  abandoned  his  business  and  followed 
Jesus,  becoming  one  of  His  acknowledged  disciples.  With 
regard  to  the  effect  of  the  call  of  Levi,  or  Matthew,  on 
the  Pharisees,  the  evangelist  gives  us  little  direct  informa- 
tion. Still  it  is  evident  from  the  nature  of  the  case  that 
it  must  have  been  highly  distasteful  to  them.  The  pub- 
licans were  a  despised  and  hated  class.  Their  presence 
among  the  Jews  was  a  constant  reminder  of  the  subjugated 
state  of  the  nation, — of  its  helpless  dependence  on  the 
will  of  a  detested  heathen  power.  Any  civil  recognition 
of  them  was  s^monymous,  therefore,  with  a  want  of  patri- 
otic regard  for  Jewish  nationality. 

Besides  this,  it  is  quite  evident  from  subsequent  events, 
that  the  Pharisees  looked  upon  such  attention  on  the  part 
of  Jesus  to  the  publicans  as  indicative  of  His  personal 
contempt  for  their  sect  and  its  claims  to  superior  holiness. 
As  He  claimed  to  be  the  Messiah,  it  amounted  to  a  rejec- 
tion of  them,  as  unworthy  a  part  in  His  mission  or  a  place 
in  His  kingdom.  Skeptical  as  they  were  with  regard  to 
His  Messiahship,  they  were  too  proud  not  to  feel  such  a 
slight,  when  put  upon  them  before  the  very  eyes  of  the 


JESUS    REBUKES    PHARISAISM.  271 

multitude,  and  by  a  man  so  far  acknowledged  as  a  prophet 
of  indisputable  purity  and  power. 

The  consciousness  that  our  Lord  looked  upon  them  with 
growing  disfavor,  led  the  Pharisees  to  seek  for  occasion 
to  depreciate  His  claims  to  higher  religious  views  and 
superior  personal  holiness.  An  incident  soon  occurred 
which  gave  them  the  much  coveted  opportunity.  It  was 
now  the  time  of  harvest.  The  fields  were  yellow  with 
the  ripened  wheat.  Passing,  one  Sabbath  day,  through 
a  neighboring  wheat-field,  perhaps  on  their  way  to  the 
synagogue,  our  Lord's  disciples,  being  hungry,  plucked 
the  ears  of  corn,  and,  rubbing  them  in  their  hands,  sep- 
arated the  grain  from  the  chaff,  and  ate  it.  This  was  ex- 
pressly allow^ed  by  the  law  of  Moses,  and  hence  appears 
to  have  occasioned  no  misgiving  on  their  part.  The 
Pharisees,  however,  had  put  such  acts  among  the  labors 
which  were  prohibited  on  tlie  Sabbath  day.  They  there- 
fore come  to  Jesus  and  apprise  Him  of  this  grave  misde- 
meanor on  the  part  of  His  followers.  "Behold,"  say  they, 
"Thy  disciples  do  that  which  is  not  lawful  to  do  on  the 
Sabbath  day!"* 

Our  Lord,  who  knew"  at  once  that  the  reproof  was 
intended  for  Him  rather  than  His  disciples,  defends  Him- 
self by  urging  the  superiority  of  a  free  obedience  to  the 
spirit  of  the  law,  over  a  slavish  conformity  to  its  letter. 
He  takes  them  upon  their  own  ground  of  peculiar  rever- 
ence for  the  law,  by  citing  from  Jewish  history  several 
examples  of  an  innocent,  and  even  commendable  violation 
-of  the  letter  of  the  law.  "  David,"  says  He,  "  when  fleeing 
from  the  wrath  of  Saul,  entered  the  tabernacle,  and  not 
only  partook  of  the  consecrated  shew-bread,  which  was 
forbidden  to  any  but  the  priests,  but  gave  it  to  his  asso- 
ciates.    Nay,  you  have  an  example  in  your  own  times. 


*  Matthew  sii.  2. 


272  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

Your  priests  themselves,  in  their  Sabbath  ministrations, 
perform  many  acts  of  physical  labor;  but  you  do  not 
charge  them  with  sin."  Knowing  that  the  Pharisees 
would  allege  that  the  teini^le  consecrated  the  labor  of 
the  priests,  He  gave  them  to  understand  that  there  was 
One  present  who  was  greater  than  the  temple.  Jesus 
was  in  fact  the  trim  temple,  of  which  the  other  was  only 
the  type.  If,  then,  those  who  served  the  latter  might 
labor  on  the  Sabbath  in  that  service,  how  much  more 
might  those  who  served  the  former. 

He  now  proceeds  to  press  a  truth  upon  them  which  they 
must  have  felt  as  a  pointed  personal  rebuke.  He  virtually 
charges  them  with  ignorance  of  their  own  prophets.  He 
refers  them  to  the  language  of  God  as  given  by  Hosea ; 
"I  desired  mercy  and  not  sacrifice,  and  the  knowledge  of 
God,  more  than  burnt-offerings."  *  "  If,"  said  He, "  ye  had 
known  what  this  meaneth,  ye  would  not  have  condemned 
the  guiltless."!  That  is:  "If  you  had  understood  your 
own  sacred  writings;  if  you  had  had  any  just  comprehen- 
sion of  the  spirit  of  your  own  religion,  you  would  have 
known  that  love  and  mercy  are  greater  than  all  ceremonial 
service ;  and  you  would  have  shown  your  regard  for  them, 
by  forbearing  to  condemn  the  innocent."  Having  thus 
indicated  the  purpose  of  the  Sabbath,  as  made  for  man's 
comfort  and  blessing, — as  designed  not  to  burden  or  en- 
slave him,  but  to  be  beneficently  used  by  him ;  He  pro- 
ceeds to  assert  His  absolute  authority  over  the  Sabbath, — 
in  fact,  over  all  times  and  seasons.  "  The  Son  of  Man  is 
Lord  even  of  the  Sabbath  day,"t  says  He,  and  with  this 
startling  declaration,  abruptly  dismisses  the  subject,  and 
leaves  them. 

The  Pharisees,  though  silenced  by  our  Lord's  bold  and 
searching  language,  were  not  convinced.     On  the  very 

*  Hosea  vi.  6.  f  Matthew  xii.  7.  $  Matthew  xil.  8. 


JESUS    r.EBUKES    niARISAISM.  273 

next  Sabbath  they  find  occasion  to  renew  their  attack. 
Our  Lord  was  present  in  the  synagogue,  wliere  there  was 
a  man  who  had  a  withered  hand.  The  muscles  of  his  arm 
seem  to  have  been  shrunk  and  paralyzed  so  that  the  limb 
was  both  deformed  and  useless.  The  affection  was  the 
more  severe,  because  it  was  the  right  hand  which  was 
withered.  Seizing  upon  his  case  as  one  likely  to  excite 
the  compassion  of  Jesus,  and  to  call  forth  His  exercise  of 
this  healing  jDower,  His  w^atchful  enemies  indirectly  called 
His  attention  to  the  man  by  the  apparently  innocent  ques- 
tion; "Is  it  lawful  to  heal  on  the  Sabbath  day?"*  Fully 
comprehending  their  malicious  design,  Jesus  immediately 
caused  the  man  to  stand  forth  in  the  sisrht  of  the  as- 
sembled  congregation,  that  his  miserable  condition  might 
1)e  apparent  to  all  and  might  appeal  to  their  common 
humanity.  Having  done  this.  He  turns  upon  His  perse- 
cutors with  another  question ;  "  Is  it  lawful  to  do  good  on 
the  Sabbath  days,  or  to  do  evil?  to  save  life  or  to  kill?"t 
This  was  a  master-stroke.  As  w^ith  a  flash  of  light,  it 
revealed  the  false  and  fatal  issue  which  the  Pharisees  had 
forced  upon  themselves.  In  their  minds  the  question  lay 
simply  between  doing  and  not  doing ;  the  real  alternativs 
was  that  o?  doing  good  or  doing  evil.  That  this  was  so  is 
evident ;  for,  had  our  Lord  in  the  present  case  refused  to 
heal  the  miserable  sufferer, — who,  according  to  a  very  an- 
cient tradition,  was  a  mason,  and  therefore  dependent  on 
his  hands  for  his  subsistence,  it  would  have  been  doing 
evil ;  it  would  have  been  equivalent  to  destroying  life. 
To  cure  him  was  to  enable  him  to  support  life  ;  was  in  fact 
to  save  life.  Pressino;  His  ar<»:ument  further,  He  demands 
of  them  :  "  What  man  shall  there  be  among  you  that  shall 
have  one  sheep,  and  if  it  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
will  he  not  lay  hold  on  it  and  lift  it  out?     How  much, 

*  Matthew  xii.  10.  t  Matthew  iii.  4. 

18 


274'  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

then,  is  a  man  better  than  a  sheep?"*  "Would  you 
forbid  the  Great  Shepherd  to  save  one, of  His  human 
flock;  fallen  under  so  dire  a  calamity  as  this  ?  Would  you 
have  Me  less  merciful  to  a  man,  than  you  would  be  to  a 
brute  ?  Your  question  solves  itself  '  It  is  lawful  to  do 
well  on  the  Sabbath  days."'t 

Conclusive  as  was  this  reasoning,  the  Pharisees  were 
too  uncandid  and  stubborn  to  acknowledge  it :  they  an- 
swered Him  not  a  word.  Aroused  by  this  ungenerous 
behavior  on  their  part,  He  "  looked  round  about  on  them 
with  anger,  being  grieved  for  the  hardness  of  their  hearts," 
and  at  once  asserted  His  right  and  His  power  to  heal  on 
the  Sabbath.  "Stretch  forth  thine  hand!"  said  He  to  the 
man,  w^ith  an  energy  and  a  look  of  majesty  which  must 
have  been  startlino;  and  sublime.  And  the  man  stretched 
forth  his  hand,  and  it  was  made  whole  like  the  other. 
Here,  then.  He  had  healed  a  man  on  the  Sabbath,  not  pri> 
vately,  as  at  Bethesda,  but  in  the  open  synagogue,  in  the  • 
very  face  of  His  adversaries ;  in  defiance  of  their  express 
challenge  of  His  right  to  do  so.  They  were  confounded 
and  filled  with  rage.  Going  out,  they  consulted  with  cer- 
tain Herodians,  courtiers  of  Herod  Antipas,  who"  happened 
to  be  there,  how  they  might  destroy  Him.  Open  war  was 
declared.  Accepting  the  conflict,  Jesus  henceforth  with 
the  utmost  fearlessness  ceased  not  to  warn  His  disciples 
and  the  people  against  the  hypocrisy  of  the  Pharisees. 

The  only  lesson  to  be  drawn  from  these  events,  which 
we  pause  to  notice,  is  that  of  the  uselessness  of  all  at- 
tempts at  compromising  between  Christianity  and  formal- 
ism. There  is  no  common  ground  for  them ;  there  can 
be  no  peace  between  them.  Whatever  delay  there  may 
be,  ultimate  and  irreconcilable  conflict  is  inevitable.  Chris- 
tianity may  treat  formalism  as  Jesus  did  the  Pharisees, 

♦Mattliew  sii.  11,  12.  f  Matthew  xii.  12. 


JESUS    REBUKES    PlIAllISAISM.  275 

with  courtesy  and  gentleness;  it  is  of  no  avail.  In  whut/- 
ever  age,  under  whatever  name  it  may  manifest  itsellj  it 
is  morally  certain  that  Pharisaism  will  array  itself  against 
"pure  religion  and  undefiled."  After  eighteen  centuries, 
its  arrogance,  bigotry,  and  hatred  of  the  "truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus,"  are  still  patent  to  the  view  and  abhorrence  of 
mankind. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

JESUS   CHOOSES  THE  TWELVE  APOSTLES. 

JESCS  WITHDRAWS  FROM  CAI'EUXAUM — HE  GOES  UP  INTO  THE  MOUNTAIN 
AND  SPENDS  THE  NIGHT  IN  PRAYER — OCCASION  FOR  THE  CALLING  OF 
THE  APOSTLES — HE  SUMMONS  THE  TWELVE  INTO  HIS  PRESENCE — THE 
MEN  CHOSEN  OF  NO  INFERIOR  ORDER — SIMON:  IIIS  CHARACTER:  PRE- 
EMINENCE IN  THE  APOSTOLIC  COLLEGE — ANDREW  :  ANTECEDENT  HIS- 
TORY :    HIS    PECULIAR   RELATION   TO  JESUS  :    CHARACTERISTIC   TRAITS 

THE  "SONS  OF  ZEBEDEE  " — JAMES:  IIIS  CHARACTER  AND  RELATIVE 
PROMINENCE — JOHN:  HIS  COMPARATIVE  YOUTH:  HIS  CHARACTER  :  HIS 
IMPORTANT  RELATION  TO  THE  CHURCH  AS  A  THEOLOGIAN  AND  PROPHET 
— PHILIP:  HIS  LEADING  TRAITS — BARTHOLOMEW:  IDENTITY  WITH  NA- 
THANAEL,  AND  IIIS  CHARACTER — THOMAS:  HIS  PECULIARITIES — MAT- 
THEW: BRIEF  NOTICE  OF — JAMES  THE  LESS:  CHARACTER,  AND  POSITION 
IN  THE  CHURCH — JUDE  :  PERSONAL  TRAITS  —  SIMON  ZELOTES  :  CHAR- 
ACTER AS  A  ZEALOT — JUDAS  ISCARIOT  :  MYSTERY  RELATIVE  TO  HIS 
ANTECEDENTS  :  FIRST  THEORY  AS  TO  HIS  CHARACTER  AND  COURSE : 
SECOND  THEORY:  PROBABLE  TRUTH  AS  TO  IIIS  CASE:  MYSTERY  AS  TO 
OUR    lord's    SELECTION   OF    SUCH    A    CHARACTER — CLOSING    THOUGHTS. 

Jesus,  knowiiiLC  tli;it  the  Pliarisees  and  Ilerodians  had 
roiispircd  to  put  Ilhii  out  of  the  wa}',  now  withdrew  from 
Capernaum  to  a  neighboring  part  of  the  coast.  Here  His 
presence  was  eagerly  sought  by  multitudes  who  came 
from  tlie  extremities  of  Palestine,  and  even  from  beyond 
its  borders,  to  hear  the  words  and  witness  the  mighty 
works  of  the  Croat  Pi'Ojihet.  Such  was  the  pressure  of 
the  p('Oj)le  upon  Him.  iu  their  eagerness  to  get  near  His 
person,  ibat  it  at  length  became  necessary  for  a  boat  to 
wait  ii|tf)u  Ilim-sotbiit  He  might,  when  occasion  required, 
))f't.'d<c  Himself  to  it,  and  thus  address  the  hearers  npon 
the  shore  williDiit discomfort  or  damrer.     His  labors  during 


CALLING  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  277 

this  period  must  Imve  been  excessive.  The  cures  which 
He  wrought  were  numerous  and  extraordinary. 

Let  us  contemplate  a  scene  which  Avas  presented  at  the 
close  of  one  of  these  Ilis  missionary  days.  It  is  evening. 
The  gold  aiid  crimson  are  fading  from  the  western  sky, 
and  from  the  placid  surface  of  Gennesaret.  The  stars — 
such  stars  as  we  never  see  in  our  less  transparent  sk}^ — 
come  out  in  their  splendor,  and  look  down  tenderly  on 
the  shrouded  landscape.  The  multitude,  some  short  time 
since  dismissed  by  our  Lord,  are  scattered  among  the 
neighboring  villages  in  search  of  food  and  lodging.  All 
is  now  quiet,  where  so  lately  was  heard  the  hum  of 
thronging  multitudes.  Turn  now  your  gaze  to  yonder 
mountain  ridge  rising  from  the  dusky  plain,  with  its  three 
horns*  or  cones  sharply  defined  against  the  clear  star-lit 
sky.  Look  intently  and  you  will  see  through  the  dark- 
ness a  solitary  figure  ascending  the  steep  acclivity.  No 
sound  from  the  world  below  can  reach  that  lofty  height ; 
all  is  still  and  solemn  as  eternity.  There  alone  and  under 
the  open  heavens,  Jesus  bows  Himself  to  the  earth  in 
prayer.  The  evangelist  Luke  records  that  He  "  continued 
all  night  in  prayer  to  God."  f 

The  occasion  of  these  solemn  communings  with  the 
Father  was  this.  He  was  about  to  take  an  important  step 
in  advance.  During  several  months,  He  had  preached  the 
approaching  kingdom  of  God,  in  Judea  and  Galilee.  The 
hearts  of  thousands  had  been  touched;  the  hearts  of  a  few 
had  been  stirred  to  their  lowest  depths.  A  considerable 
number  had  come  to  discern  in  Him  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God,  and  they  were  longing  for  His  manifest- 


*For  indications  that  the  hill,  known  as  the  "Horns  of  Ilattin,"  was  the 
"Mount  of  Beatitudes,"  see  Stanley's  "Sinai  and  Palestine,"  page  3G0 ; 
Andrews'  "Life  of  Christ,"  page  248. 

tLuke  vi.  12. 


278  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

atioii.  A-"  vet,  hoTvover,  the  movement  had  been  purely 
spontaneous  and  unorganized.  The  time  had  come  for 
our  Lord  to  institute  the  germ  and  nucleus  of  His  church. 
The  twelve  Ibundiition-stones  of  the  temple  were  to  be 
selected,  hewn  and  polished.  He  was  about  to  choose 
and  commission  His  Apostles. 

The  innnediate  and  visible  occasion  of  the  calling  of 
the  apostles  was  that  very  concourse  of  the  people  which 
we  have  so  often  noticed.  It  had  become  apparent  that 
Jesus  could  not  personally  impart  instruction  to  all  who 
resorted  to  Him ;  neither  could  He  with  His  own  hands 
heal  the  multitude  of  sick  wdio  w^ere  brought  to  Him. 
Hence  His  more  intelligent  and  devoted  disciples  were 
to  be  His  authorized  ministers,  Ijoth  in  teaching  and  in 
working  miracles.  Some  of  them  w^ere  Cjualified  to  pro- 
claim the  first  principles  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  ;  and  to 
heal  in  His  name  and  by  His  power.  Through  them  He 
might  multiply  Himself,  so  that  those  who  were  like  sheep 
scattered  aljroad  might  in  some  degree  be  shepherded 
under  His  gracious  care. 

Not  only  wxre  the  apostles  thus  to  be  selected  for  this 
special  work ;  their  office  was  intended  to  endure  and  be 
more  largely  developed  after  His  removal  from  the  scenes  . 
of  His  earthly  ministry.  They  were  to  be  witnesses  of 
His  life,  death,  resurrection  and  ascension,  not  only  to  Iho 
Jews,  but  also  to  all  nations;  and,  under  their  fostering 
care,  the  Church  was  to  grow  up  from  a  feeble  infancy  to 
vigorous  yniilh.  They  were  to  be  replenished  w^ith  the 
life  of  tlieir  glorified  Master,  and  to  be  Christ  to  the  world. 
Thoy  were  to  ])e  inspired  by  the  Holy  Comforter,  to  teach 
aii<1  govern  and  feed  His  flock,  bought  w^ith  His  own  blood  ; 
and  ihcv  were  to  be  invested  with  supreme  authority  on 
earth.  We  cannot  doubt  that  Jesus  saw  the  end  from  the 
beginning.  His  plan  was  fidly  settled.  His  Church,  in 
it.s  final   and   perfect  organization,  was  clearly  discerned 


CALLING  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  279 

by  rii9  prophetic  eye^  which  looked  for  beyond  Ilis  per- 
sonal ministry, — for  beyond  the  cross  ;  for  bc3ond  the  day 
of  Pentecost ;  far  beyond  the  "  lost  sheep  of  the  House 
of  Israel," — to  ages  and  nations  hidden  from  other  eyes 
in  the  darkness  of  the  future.  What  wonder  that,  when 
about  to  call  and  ordain  His  apostles, — the  first  step  in  the 
organization  of  His  Church, — He  spent  a  whole  night,  on 
that  lonely  mountain  in  prayer. 

The  mornino;  at  lensrth  dawned.  The  multitude  came 
together  at  an  early  hour,  and  thronged  up  the  mount- 
ain slope.  But  they  were  arrested  ere  they  reached  the 
summit,  even  the  disciples  being  kept  back  from  the  little 
'plateau  wdiere  Jesus  was  seated.  Those,  and  those  only, 
came  near  Him  wdiom  He  called  by  name.  Those  who 
w^ere  thus  summoned  were  His  chosen  aposfles.  The  list 
is,  on  many  accounts,  worthy  of  profound  stud}^  It  dis- 
plays the  far-seeing  wisdom  of  Him  who  looks  not  on  the 
outw^ard  appearance,  but  on  the  heart ;  and  w' ho  selects 
His  servants  and  ministers,  not  according  to  the  maxims 
of  worldly  prudence  and  political  sagacity,  but  on  princi- 
ples which  to  the  world  are  not  only  incomprehensible 
but  foolish. 

"  It  behooved  Him  to  select  a  number  of  men  in  whom 
the  riches  of  His  life  might  be  unfolded  in  every  direc- 
tion. For  this  end  He  needed  above  all,  people  in  whom 
the  glory  of  His  spirit  and  the  peculiarity  of  His  work 
might  be  distinctly  identified ; — laymen,  who  w^ould  not 
chain  His  w^ork  to  existing  priestly  habits ;  unlearned 
men,  who  w^ould  not  mix  up  His  wisdom  with  traditional 
schemes  of  philosoph}'  ;  yes,  even  comparatively  unedu- 
cated men,  at  any  rate,  homely  men,  in  order  that  the 
dulled  taste  of  a  diseased  w^orldly  civilization  might  not 
disturb  the  culture  which  the  spirit  of  the  incarnate 
Word  was  to  impart  to  them.  It  was  through  fishermen, 
country  people  and  publicans,  that  the  word  of  God  in 


280  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

the  life  and  doings  of  Christ  was  to  be  dechired  in  its 
purity."  * 

The  apostles  were  therefore  selected  from  the  better 
class  of  the  Galilean  peasantry;  among  whom  the  simple, 
intense  faith  of  the  age  of  the  Maccabees  seems  to  have 
withstood  both  the  traditional  formalism  of  the  Pharisees, 
and  the  insidious  poison  of  the  Greek  culture.  As  belong- 
ing, however,  to  a  commercial  community,  they  Avcre  of  a 
freer  and  more  liberal  spirit  than  the  Jews  of  southern 
Palestine.  There  is  reason  al^  o  to  believe  that  they  Avere 
of  respectable  social  standing,  and  by  nq  means  abso- 
lutely illiterate.  Some  of  them  were  in  comfortable  cir- 
cumstances, the  owners  of  fishing-boats  and  houses ;  and 
others  were  engaged  in  civil  employment  which  implied 
a  tolerable  education.  They  were  probably  good  speci- 
mens of  their  class,  and  withal,  possessed  of  a  natural  ap- 
titude for  the  work  to  which  they  were  now  called. 

The  first  who  w\is  summoned  by  the  voice  of  the  Master 
was  Simon  the  sox  of  Jonas,  a  fisherman  of  Bethsaida, 
not  far  from  Capernaum  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
lake.  Of  an  affectionate,  impetuous  nature,  his  manner 
of  life,  though  not  incompatible  Avith  considerable  mental 
culture,  had  tended  to  make  him  somewhat  rough  in  tem- 
per, abrupt  «nd  bluff  in  speech  and  manners,  and  daring 
even  to  recklessness,  when  pursuing  his  avocation  on  the 
waters  of  that  fickle  and  dangerous  inland  sea.  Though 
there  is  no  reason  to  charge  him  with  any  disreputable 
crimes,  we  ini'er  from  one  or  two  nassafjes  in  his  later  his- 
tory  that  he  was,  in  his  youth,  addicted  to  the  thoroughly 
oriental  vices  of  profonity  and  falsehood.  There  was  in 
his  character,  however,  a  strong  substratum  of  truth.  His 
religious  su.sceptibility  was  quick  and  profound:  his  spirit- 
ual discernment  was  extraordinary;  and  he  was  capable 

♦Lp.nge's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  vol.  iii.,  page  45. 


CALLING  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  281 

of  a  faith,  which  no  external  opposition  and  no  vacillation 
of  his  own  somewhat  unsteady  temperament  could  shake ; 
a  frenzied  impulse  of  natm-al  fear  might  lead  him  to  dis- 
guise or  even  deny  his  inward  convictions ;  but  they 
never  failed  speedily  to  reassert  their  authority  and  de- 
mand a  free  and  bold  expression,  even  in  the  face  of 
blood-thirsty  enemies  and  at  the  risk  of  martyrdom.  This 
rock-like  faith  was  set  forth  in  the  name  which  w^as  given 
him  by  Jesus  Himself, — Peter  or  Cephas,  He  was  capa- 
ble of  the  most  tender  attachments ;  and  all  the  love  of 
his  generous  heart  had  been  concentrated  on  Jesus,  whom 
he,  first  of  all  the  disciples,  confessed  as  tJie  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  I'ming  God. 

The  story  of  his  conversion  has  been  already  told,  and 
discloses  those  peculiar  characteristics  w^hich  qualified  him 
for  a  certain  leadership  in  the  primitive  church.  Peter, 
though  afterwards  chastened  by  trial,  and  softened  and 
subdued  by  the  meek  and  lowly  Spirit  of  Christ,  could 
hold  no  second  place  among  the  apostles.  If,  as  tradition 
asserts,  he  was  an  aged  man  when  he  suffered  martyrdom, 
A.  D.  64, — he  must  have  been  several  years  older  than 
our  Lord.  This  circumstance  would,  of  itself,  make  him 
somewhat  prominent  among  his  colleagues,  the  most  of 
whom  were  undoubtedly  somewhat  younger. 

"  Peter  stood  before  Christ  as  the  foreman  of  his  band  ; 
an  eagle  mind,  fitted  by  its  depth  and  ardor  strongly 
and  clearly  to  feel  the  whole  character  of  Christ,  and  to 
receive  it  into  its  own  depths ; — a  popular  spirit  in  the 
noblest  sense,  who  could  work  on  the  people  with  the 
most  effective  arguments,  and  deeply  penetrate  into  the 
world ;  an  heroic,  fiery,  energetic  man,  who  was  ever 
ready  to  strike  at  the  decisive  moment,  and  regardless 
of  consequences  to  send  forth  his  blows,  first  in  a  fleshly 
and  afterwards  in  a  spiritual  manner ;  in  his  large  elastic 
sympathy  now  constituted  a   pidneer,  and  now  a  medi- 


282  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

ator; — in  the  firm,  rock-like  solidity  of  his  inmost  charac- 
ter, the  first  leader,  founder,  and  guide  of  the  Church  of 
Christ."* 

After  Peter,  Andrew  his  brother,  was  called  up  by 
Jesus.  Andrew  had  been  a  disciple  of  the  Baptist,  and 
was  one  of  the  two  who  followed  Jesus  when  John  pointed 
Him  out  at  Bethabara  as  the  '^  Lamb  of  God!'  From  this 
he  would  seem  to  have  been  the  very  first  who  believed. 
He  evinced  something  of  his  character  as  an  active  be- 
liever, in  inunediately  seeking  out  his  brother  Simon,  and 
saving:  to  him  :  "  We  have  found  the  Messiah."  It  would 
appear  from  this  incident,  and  from  his  subsequent  ser- 
vices in  introducing  strangers  to  Jesus,  that  he  stood  in 
somewhat  peculiar  and  intimate  relations  to  our  Lord. 
Thus  the  Greeks!  who  desired  to  see  Jesus,  first  made 
their  wish  known  to  P/ziVvp.  "  Philip  cometh  and  telleth 
Andrew,  and  again  Andrew  and  Philip  tell  Jesus."  An- 
drew, tx3o,  was  among  the  four  favored  apostles  who  came 
to  our  Lord  after  His  prophecy  concerning  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  and  requested  the  explanation  which  is  so 
fully  recorded  by  Matthew.  $  We  infer  from  all  this  that 
Andrew  was  more  than  most  of  his  fellow-apostles  in  the 
confidence  of  Jesus. 

Though  the  notices  given  of  Andrew  in  the  gospel,  are 
few  and  scattered,  they  disclose  a  most  interesting,  though 
not  striking  character.  He  seems  to  have  been  of  a  mod- 
est, retiring  spirit,  shrinking  from  every  semblance  of 
public  exhibition,  yet  so  full  of  gentleness  and  humility, 
so  full  of  faith  and  love,  so  devoted  in  his  attachment  to 
his  Master,  and  so  zealous  and  prudent  in  his  efforts  to 
bring  others  to  His  knowledge  and  acquaintance,  that  he 


*  "  Lanp:e's  Life  of  Christ,"  vol.  3,  page  47. 
t  Sec  Jolin  xii.  20. 
%  See  Matthew  xxiv. 


CALLING  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  283 

was  not  only  admitted  more  freely  and  fully  to  our  Lord's 
confidence  than  the  majority  of  the  disciples,  but  was  re- 
garded by  Him  as  well  calculated  to  check  and  chasten 
the  headlong  zeal  of  his  brother  Simon,  and  eminently 
fitted  for  the  more  private  labors  of  the  ministry  to  which 
he  was  called. 

After  the  sons  of  Jonas  come  the  sons  of  Zebedee, 
James  and  John.  They  probably  resided  at  or  near  Ca- 
pernaum, and  as  they  were  the  owners  of  their  ships  and 
nets,  and  had  servants  in  their  employ,  they  would  seem 
to  have  been  in  comfortable  circumstances  for  men  of  their 
class.  Their  mother,  who  was  probably  a  sister  of  the 
mother  of  Jesus,*  was  evidently  a  woman  not  only  of 
great  energy  of  character,  but  of  large  faith  and  ardent 
devotion — characteristics  which  were  impressed  on  her 
sons,  who  were  surnamed  by  their  contemporaries,  Boa- 
nerges, or  sons  of  thunder. 

James  was,  without  doubt,  a  man  of  ardent  tempera- 
ment and  extraordinary  energy.  He  had  from  the  first 
a  chief  place  among  the  apostles,  and  ultimately  attained 
a  position  of  great  authority  in  the  church  at  Jerusalem. 
His  devotion,  promptitude  and  vigor  in  that  position,  soon 
drew  upon  him  the  attention  of  Herod  Agrippa,  who,  evi- 
dently regarding  him  as  the  most  conspicuous  leader  of 
the  church,  thought  to  strike  it  a  decisive  blow  by  sum- 
marily putting  him  to  the  sword.  James  fell,  the  first  of 
the  apostolic  martyrs. 

John,  the  younger  brother  of  James,  was  probably  the 
most  youthful  of  the  apostles.  As  he  survived  till  the 
reign  of  Trajan,  he  could  hardly  have  been  born  before 
the  year  4  B.  C. ;  he  was  probably  born  several  years 
later,  and  so  was  the  junior  of  our  Lord.      His  extreme 


*  This   point,  although  not  settled,  has  many  plausible  arguments  in  its 
favor.      See  Smith's  "  Bible  Dictionary,"  article  "  Sajorae." 


284  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

youth  at  the  time  of  his  call  appears  to  have  kept  him 
eome^vhat  in  the  background;  for  he  was  at  first  less 
prominent  and  inlluential  in  the  church  than  his  brother 
James.  In  addition  to  this  it  may  be  reasonably  con- 
jectured that  he  was  not  largely  gifted  with  oral  elo- 
quence, and  still  less  Avith  executive  ability  and  the  gift 
of  rule.  Unlike  James,  who,  endowed  with  an  organizing 
mind  and  a  decisive  energy,  was  eminently  an  apostle  for 
his  own  times,  John  was  the  apostle  for  later  ages. 

In  his  youth,  he  Avas  distinguished  not  so  much  for 
active,  public  labors  as  for  his  singular  purity,  the  sweet- 
ness of  his  disposition,  and  the  depth  of  his  faith  and 
spiritual  insight;  —  traits  Avhich  won  him  a  profound 
and  tender  reverence.  In  his  natural  temperament  and 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  he  closely  resembled  Jesus, 
and  for  that  reason  he  became  "  that  disciple  Avhom  Jesus 
loved."  The  relation  between  Jesus  and  John  was  one  of 
intimate,  confiding  frieiidship*  Leaning  on  the  bosom 
of  the  Saviour,  he  drank  in  more  of  His  spirit  than  any 
other  disciple.  The  most  important  part  of  John's  apos- 
tolic Avork  Avas  reserved  for  his  old  age,  AAdien  his  colleagues 
had  all  l^een  gathered  to  their  rest.  Then  it  Avas  that  he 
appeared  as  the  inspired  mediator  betAA^een  the  different 
schools,  calling  themselves  by  the  names  of  Paul  and  Peter 
and  James,  Avhicli  had  sprung  up  in  the  church.  In  his 
grand  catholicity  of  doctrine,  the  seeming  discrepancies 
in  the  teachings  of  the  elder  apostles  Avere  harmonized, 
and  appeared  as  essential  parts  of  one  comprehensive 
system.  In  the  directness  and  terrible  energy  of  his  de- 
nunciation Avhen  dealing  Avith  error,  he  fully  Aandicates  his 
riglit  l()  he  called  a  "son  of  thunder."  Next  to  his  Mas- 
ter, J(jhn   was  the  great  prophet  and  theologian  of  the 


♦See  Il<-)Viprt  TTaU's  ininiitalilo  sornion  on  the  words :  " That  disciple  whom 
Jesus  loved." 


CALLING  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  286 

New  Covenant :  he  was  pre-eminently  ordained  as  the 
apostle  for  the  church  of  the  "  last  days." 

Of  PniLiP,  the  next  in  the  list,  but  little  is  known.  He 
also  was  of  Bethsaida,  and  a  friend  of  Peter  and  Andrew, 
probably  also  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee.  Early  cdled  to 
follow  Jesus,  he  began  at  once  to  invite  others  to  "  come 
and  see"  the  Saviour  whom  he  had  found.  "In  every 
situation  in  which  he  comes  before  us,  he  always  displays 
a  quick  and  vigorous  mind,  joined  with  the  tendency  to  as- 
sure himself,  as  much  as  possible,  of  the  invisible  through 
concrete  evidence  and  sensuous  experience."  *  "  Show 
us  the  Father,"  was  a  request  which  manifested  an  ex- 
treme and  even  morbid  craving  for  outward,  matter-of- 
fact  demonstration. 

The  next  in  order  Avho  was  called  to  the  apostleship 
was  Bartholomew,  evidently  a  surname,  signifying  tl^e 
son  of  Tkolmai,  just  as  Simon  Peter  was  called  Bar-jona, 
the  son  of  Jonah.  As  the  gospel  of  John  never  mentions 
the  name  of  Bartholomew,  but  often  speaks  of  Nathaniel 
as  fimiliarly  associated  with  the  apostles;  and  as  again  the 
other  gospels  do  not  mention  Nathaniel  at  all,  it  is  almost 
certain  that  the  names  belonged  to  one  and  the  same 
person — Nathaniel  Bartholomew.  The  character  of  this 
apostle  was  summed  up  by  Christ  Himself  in  the  remark- 
able words,  "Behold  an  Israelite  indeed  in  whom  is  no 
guile." 

The  character  of  Thomas,  surnamed  Didymus  or  the 
Twin,  is  clearly  drawn  with  a  few  bold  strokes.  Devot- 
edly attached  to  Jesus,  and  willing  even  to  die  with  Him, 
he  has  nevertheless  been  well  called  the  skeptical  apostle. 
His  steadfast  refusal  to  believe  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
till  he  had  had  ocular  and  even  tactual  evidence  of  the 
fact,  displays  a  spirit  of  doubt  more  nearly  allied  to  the 

*  Lange's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  vol.  3,  page  .50. 


286  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

nineteenth  century  than  the  first.  His  doubting,  how- 
ever, was  not  the  fruit  of  a  frivolous,  but  of  a  mekincholy 
turn  of  mind, — that  doubting  of  the  struggling  soul  which 
God  guides  to  certainty. 

Matthew,  who  hiunbly  calls  himself  the  publican,  is 
portrayed  in  his  own  gospel.  He  was  especially  chosen 
that  he  might  record  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  We  can 
not  doubt  that  he  made  copious  memoranda,  from  day  to 
day.  of  the  wondrous  sayings  Avhich  fell  from  the  Saviour's 

lijDS. 

We  assume,  without  argument,  that  James  the  sox  of 
Alpiieus,  sometimes  called  James  the  less,  is  identical 
with  that  James  who  was  called  the  brother  of  the  Lord. 
Though  the  point  is  still  vigorously  controverted,  the 
current  of  opinion  among  scholars  can  not  be  mistaken, 
and  is  daily  becoming  deeper  and  stronger.  In  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  and  in  his  epistle,  he  appears  as  a  calm, 
wise,  conciliatory  ruler  of  the  church,  seeking  earnestly 
both  purity  and  peace,  and  devoted  rather  to  practical 
Christianity  than  to  the  defense  of  dogma,  leaning  even, 
one  would  say,  towards  a  certain  evangelical  legalism  put 
forth  to  modify  and  complement  the  teachings  of  Paul 
touching  faith  and  works.  That  he  himself,  residing  as 
he  did  at  Jerusalem,  strictly  kept  the  law  of  Moses,  and 
was  eminent  even  amono;  the  Jews  themselves  for  his 
personal  sanctity,  is  the  testimony  of  early  Christian 
tradition. 

The  Apostle  Jude,  called  Lebbeus  in  the  first  gospel  and 
Thaddeus  in  the  second,  loved  to  call  himself  "  the  brother 
of  James."  He  would  appear  to  have  been  a  man  of 
most  intense  convictions  and  ardent  zeal.  Some  passages 
in  liis  epistle  give  him  a  strong  resemblance  to  Peter. 

SiMox  Zelotes,  also  called  the  Canaanite,  "had  been 
n  zealot,  i.  e.,  one  who  like  Phinehas  (Numbers  xxv.  7,) 
interfered  to  put  down  ofiences  and  abuses,  not  only  as 


CALLING    OF    THE    APOSTLES.  287 

the  prophets  did  by  words,  but  also  by  deeds.  The  party 
of  the  zealots  which  afterwards,  during  the  Jewish  war, 
distracted  Jerusalem,  had  not  as  yet  been  formed,  but  its 
germ  was  already  in  existence."*  Simon  it  would  seem 
had  been  of  a  fiery  and  intolerant  spirit,  but  was  now 
chastened  and  subdued  by  the  teachings  and  life  of  his 
Master,  to  whose  service  he  devoted  all  the  energy  of  his 
burning  soul. 

The  last  figure  in  this  procession  is  that  of  Judas  Iscar- 
lOT, — a  name  that  thrills  the  soul  with  horror,  and  pre- 
sents some  of  the  most  mysterious  and  painful  problems 
with  which  the  Christian  is  ever  called  to  grapple.  Where 
he  was  born,  what  his  calling  was  before  he  became  a  dis- 
ciple, what  his  associations  had  been,  what  the  motives 
were  which  prompted  him  to  follow  Jesus, — all  is  a  mys- 
tery. One  interpretation  of  his  surname  makes  him  a  na- 
tive of  Kerioth  in  the  tribe  of  Judah ;  another,  of  Kartha 
in  Galilee;  but  these  are  mere  conjectures,  unsupported  by 
more  than  the  faintest  shadow  of  probability.  His  charac 
ter  is  almost  equally  a  puzzle  to  those  who  have  made  it 
a  special  study.  By  the  majority  of  commentators  and 
preachers,  he  has  been  represented  as  a  vulgar  world- 
ling, without  any  elevated  views  or  profound  convictions. 
Entrusted  with  the  purse  of  the  little  society,  and  thus 
exposed  to  the  temptation  to  appropriate  a  portion  of  the 
funds  to  his  own  use,  he  became  a  thief:  and  findino:  that 
Jesus  began  to  treat  him  with  distrust  and  to  drop  frequent 
hints  of  ominous  and  terrible  meaning,  he  finally  resolved, 
influenced  partly  by  fear  and  partly  by  revenge,  to  betray 
his  Master  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 

Another  theory,  elaborated  by  De  Quincy  with  great 
rhetorical  beauty,  makes  Judas  a  man  of  deep  and  subtle 
policy,  who,  believing  in  Jesus  as  a  secular  and  Jewish 


De  Wetto  zei  Matthew,  page  79. 


288  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIJJIfST. 

Messiah,  and  comiiiLr  in  time  to  distrust  His  practical  en- 
ergy and  decision,  aimed  to  precipitate  a  crisis  by  which 
Jesus  would  be  compelled  to  proclaim  His  character  as 
the  Son  of  David,  exert  His  supernatural  powers  in  self- 
defence,  and  rally  the  people  to  His  standard.  The  great 
objection  to  this  ingenious  theory  is  its  ingenuity.  It 
seems  scarcely  reasonable  to  ascribe  to  a  Jewish  peasant 
of  tlnit  age  so  subtle  a  policy,  a  scheme  so  intricate  and 
far-reaching. 

Perhaps  each  view  contains  an  element  of  truth.  Judas 
was  doubtless  avaricious  and  fell  into  the  sin  of  embezzle- 
ment ;  but  he  was  not  at  first  a  vulgar  thief  He  believed 
that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  and  that  He  would  sj^eedily 
set  up  a  worldly  kingdom  in  which  he  hoped  to  fill  the 
office  of  treasurer.  But  in  process  of  time  it  became  ap- 
parent that  Jesus  meditated  no  such  revolution  as  he  was 
looking  for;  and  consequently  his  belief  in  His  Messiah- 
ship  was  shaken.  Perhaps  the  thought  occurred  to  him 
that  Jesus  might  extricate  Himself  from  the  plots  of  His 
l)lo()d-tliirsty  enemies  by  miracle;  and  in  that  case  no 
harm  would  be  done  b}^  his  treason — perhaps  even  great 
good  might  result  from  it.  Thus  his  motives  from  the 
ver}^  first  were  probably  mixed.  When  he  first  came  to 
Jesus  he  was  not  without  germs  of  good ;  but  he  was  ut- 
terly corrupted  by  avarice,  the  master  passion  of  his  soul. 

How  Jesus,  knowing  as  He  did,  even  from  the  first,  that 
Judas  was  a  devil,  could  choose  him  for  one  of  His  apos- 
tles, has  been  regarded  as  a  difficult  and  painful  proljlem. 
But  it  is  a  special  form  of  that  great  proljlem  which  we 
encounter  whenever  we  think  of  the  Divine  purposes  in 
relation  to  the  sins  of  men.  We  can  only  say  that,  while 
ilic  wickedness  of  Judas  was  exclusively  his  own,  it  is  also 
true  that  his  wickedness  was,  not  prompted,  but  overruled, 
])y  the  will  of  God  for  the  accomplishment  of  His  purpose 
in  sending  into  the  world  His  only  begotten  Son.     The 


CALLING  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  289 

unspeakable  crime  of  Judas  hastened  the  great  sacrifice 
by  which  the  reconciliation  between  God  and  man  was 
consummated. 

Thus,  then,  Jesus  has  called  around  Him  on  the  mount- 
ain summit.  His  twelve  apostles.  The  very  number  is 
significant ;  fi3r  it  corresponds  to  the  tribal  division  of  the 
theocratic  people ;  and  it  signifies,  as  a  mystic,  symbolical 
number,  completeness  and  perfection.  On  this  founda- 
tion of  the  apostles,  Jesus  intended  to  rear  the  august 
superstructure  of  His  church.  They  were,  however,  to 
be  trained  for  their  great  work  under  His  own  eye ;  and 
they  were  to  be  taught,  first  of  all,  the  grand  funda- 
mental laws  of  the  new  and  glorious  kingdom  of  God. 


19 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  TEACHINGS   OF  JESUS. 

THE  CALLING  OF  THE  APOSTLES  AN  IMPORTANT  EPOCH — NECESSITY  DE- 
TEHMINING  OUR  LORD'S  CHOICE  OF  MODES  OF  TEACHING — HIS  TEACH- 
ING   BY    HIS   ACTS — TEACHING    BY   DIALOGUE — TEACHING   BY  MAXIMS 

TEACHING  BY  PARABLES — THE  CREATED  UNIVERSE  A  SYSTEM  OP  DI- 
VINE SYMBOLS — THE  KEY  TO  THESE  SYMBOLS  LOST  BY  MAN  AT  THE 
FALL — JESUS  THE  DIVINE  EXPOUNDER  OF  THE^E  SYMBOLS — HIS  CHOICE 
OF  PARABLES  AS  A  MEANS  OF  INSTRUCTION  AN  EVIDENCE  OF  HIS 
WISDOM — THE  WONDERFUL  POWER  OF  HIS  PARABLES  AS  A  MEANS  OF 
UNFOLDING  TRUTH — THE  BREADTH  AND  FULNESS  OF  THESE  PARABLES 
NOT  YET  CONCEIVED  OR  UNFOLDED — WHY  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  RE- 
PORT OF  OUR  lord's  TEACHINGS  IS  NOT  MORE  COMPLETE — CLOSING 
REMARKS. 

The  calling  of  the  twelve  apostles  was  an  important 
epoch  in  our  Lord's  ministry.  For  the  first  time  He  was 
to  employ  chosen  ministers  to  preach  the  glad  tidings. 
Their  commission  was  indeed  limited  to  a  special  work 
and  to  a  brief  period,  but  it  was  truly  apostolic.  They 
were  to  teach  and  work  miracles  in  the  name  of  Christ ; 
but  tliey  were  to  avoid  Gentiles  and  Samaritans,  doubt- 
less because  as  yet  they  were  not  qualified  to  instruct 
those  who  were  utterly  ignorant  of  the  first  principles  of 
revealed  religion,  and  not  animated  with  the  hope  of  the 
Messianic  kingdom.  Their  mission  therefore  was  restricted 
to  the  covenant  people.  But  the  proper  prosecution  of 
this  work  was  no  easy  thing,  and  required  no  ordinary 
preparation.  Preaching  the  gospel,  even  to  the  Jews,  had 
become  a  delicate  and  dancrerous  thino;.      The  Pharisees 


THE    TEACniNGS    OF   JESUS.  291 

and  the  scribes  had  broken  with  Jesus ;  they  had  begun  to 
denounce  Him  as  an  enemy  of  the  law  and  a  bhisphemer ; 
they  had  filled  the  land  with  false  and  exaggerated  re- 
ports of  His  teachings ;  and  had  already,  with  the  Hero- 
dians,  plotted  His  destruction.  Yet  these  haughty  and 
able  foes  the  disciples  would  be  sure  to  encounter ;  they 
would  have  to  meet  their  subtile  cavilings ;  they  would  at 
least  be  compelled  to  proclaim,  under  their  searching  and 
jealous  scrutiny,  the  first  principles  of  the  new  religion. 

For  the  undertaking  of  this  difficult  mission  the  apos- 
tles were  imperfectly  prepared.  They  had,  as  yet,  crude 
and  inadequate  views  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  were 
in  other  respects  but  poorly  furnished.  They  were,  how- 
ever, possessed  of  some  advantages  which  only  needed  to 
be  supplemented  by  the  special  instructions  of  their  di- 
vine Master,  to  fit  them  in  an  eminent  degree  for  their 
great  work.  They  were  of  a  hardy  and  vigorous  stock ; 
they  were  themselves  from  among  the  masses,  and  hence, 
more  in  contact  and  sympathy  with  them, — a  fact  sug- 
gestive to  the  rulers  of  the,  church  in  every  age ; — and 
they  were  empowered  to  do  many  mighty  works  which 
their  adversaries  would  neither  be  able  to  gainsay  nor 
resist.  It  was,  however,  no  part  of  our  Lord's  plan  to  rely 
upon  undisciplined  talent  or  zeal.  His  chosen  apostles 
must  be  instructed  in  the  grand  fundamental  principles 
of  the  religion  they  were  to  profess  and  propagate.  This 
body  of  instruction  is  contained  chiefly  in  what  is  called 
the  "Sermon  on  the  Mount," — a  discourse  worthy  of 
special  consideration.  It  is  proper,  however,  before  en- 
tering upon  that  work,  that  we  should  give  some  prelimi- 
nary attention  to  our  Lord's  modes  of  teaching. 

Jesus,  the  "Word  made  flesh,  was  the  Light  of  the  world. 
As  the  mediator  between  God  and  man,  He  bridged  over 
the  chasm  between  the  Infinite  Intelligence  and  human 
thought.     It  was  His  office  to  bring  down  absolute  truth 


292  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

to  the  apprehension  of  finite  minds.  And  it  was  not  alone 
the  weakness  and  hniitation  of  the  human  faculties  which 
made  this  difficult,  but  the  prejudices  engendered  by  self- 
ishness and  sin.  Man's  blindness  to  Divine  things  was 
moral  in  its  nature  and  origin ;  his  ignorance  was  wilful 
and  malignant.  Hence  when  Jesus  came  among  men, 
He  could  only  penetrate  their  dark  minds  by  accommo- 
datin"-  the  mode  of  His  teaching  to  their  mental  and 
moral  condition.  This  necessity  determined  the  several 
forms  of  His  teaching,  and  also  accounts  for  that  marked 
reserve  in  His  utterances  which  has  often  been  observed. 

Of  the  four  modes  of  teaching  noticeable  in  Jesus  as 
the  world-prophet,  perhaps  the  most  impressive  was  His 
conveying  instruction  by  means  of  His  acts,  especially 
His  miracles.  In  every  thing  which  Jesus  did.  He  re- 
vealed the  Father;  He  manifested  His  own  divinity  as 
the  ou\y  begotten  Son  of  God  ;  He  displayed  the  divine 
compassion  and  power  as  opposed  to  the  moral  corruption 
and  ruin  of  man ;  and  He  set  in  view  of  the  world  a  per- 
fect example  of  virtue  and  goodness.  All  the  miracles 
of  Christ  demonstrated  some  truth  and  brought  it  vividly 
home  to  the  hearts  of  men.  This  is  overlooked  by  those 
who  assert  that  the  icords  of  Jesus  contain  all  that  is  of 
permanent  spiritual  value  to  mankind.  The  words  and 
morl's  belong  equally  to  His  prophetic  function ;  taken 
together,  they  contain  the  perfect  self-revelation  of  Him 
who  said,  "  I  am  tlie  truth." 

Again  :  our  Lord  in  His  intercourse  with  individuals 
often  taught  by  cJiaJor/ue.  No  other  method  is  so  effectual 
to  convince  men  of  their  ignorance  and  error,  to  awaken 
in  them  a  spirit  of  inquiry,  to  remove  their  doubts  and 
difTiciiltics.  and  to  lead  llicm  u])  to  liigher  and  yet  higher 
attainments.  This  accordingly  was  the  mode  adopted 
by  the  wisest  of  uninspired  teachers,  Socrates.  Jesus 
was  almost  always  surrounded  Ijy  disciples  and  friends, — 


THE    TEACHINGS    OF    JESUS.  293 

not  seldom  by  cavilers  and  enemies.  To  strengthen  the 
former  and  silence  the  latter,  He  often  proceeded  in  the 
way  of  question  and  answer — of  free  conversation.  Many 
of  His  most  pregnant  sayings  were  uttered  in  this  way. 

In  the  third  place,  our  Lord  often  taught, — especially 
when  surrounded  by  hearers  who  were  peculiarly  suscep- 
tible and  docile, — in  maxims  or  apothegms,  which  pre- 
sented great  truths  in  sharp,  compact,  and  luminous  forms 
that  were  often  highly  symbolical,  and  were  fitted  to  take 
at  once  a  strong  hold  on  the  imagination,  memory,  and 
conscience. 

Lastly,  many  of  our  Lord's  discourses  were  purely  di- 
dactic, conveying  in  consecutive  form,  and  with  singular 
directness,  those  great  truths  which  could  be  apprehended 
only  by  those  who  were  already  enlightened  and  pene- 
trated with  His  Spirit.  Such  was  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  and  such  His  valedictory  discourse  as  recorded 
by  John.  In  these,  however,  and  in  others  of  the  same 
class,  there  is  a  large  intermixture  of  apothegm  and  para- 
ble ;  for  the  highest  spiritual  truth  finds  its  most  complete 
and  effective  expression  in  symbol. 

As  the  iTiCst  striking  and  distinctive  feature  of  the  teach- 
ings of  Jesus,  the  parable  is  justly  deserving  of  especial 
attention.  Wise  men  and  seers  have  alwavs  regarded  this 
outward,  natural  world  as  a  sublime  system  of  symbols,  by 
which  spiritual  things  are  set  forth  to  those  who  have  eyes 
to  see.  God  has  represented  His  thoughts  in  the  works  of 
His  hand ;  His  eternal  ideas  are  realized  and  bodied  forth 
in  the  creation.  The  world  with  its  innumerable  forms 
of  existence,  corresponds  to  an  ideal  pattern  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  Eternal  Intelligence, — the  Divine  Word 
by  whom  all  things  were  made. 

This  revelation  of  the  divine  in  natural  symbols  was 
doubtless  legible  to  unfallen  man.  But  in  the  fall  the 
key  to  this  knowledge  was  lost,  and  ever  since,  only  in- 


294  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIFJST. 

spired  men,  seers,  have  been  able  to  read  and  interpret 
the  mystic  hand-writing  of  Jeliovah.  Bnt  when  the 
Eternal  Word  was  Himself  made  flesh  He  had  insight  to 
see  and  wisdom  to  exponnd  those  "  heavenly  things," 
Avhicli  He  had  wrapped  np  in  natural  symbols.  To  His 
oyas  nothing  was  unmeaning,  nothing  nndivine ;  for  the 
material  world  appeared  to  Him  as  an  effluence  from  the 
spiritual,  as  indeed  its  living  vesture  and  manifestation. 
Hence  He  opened  His  mouth  in  parables,  employing  the 
object*;,  scenes  and  processes  of  the  natural  world  to  rep- 
resent those  spiritual  realities  which  could  not  be  made  so 
intelligible,  fresh,  and  quickening  in  an  abstract  didactic 
form. 

During  this  period  of  His  ministry,  our  Lord  -was  sur- 
rounded by  eager,  excited  crowds  of  Galilean  peasants, 
totally  unaccustomed  to  abstract  speculation;  but  if  they 
had  been  ever  so  highly  cultivated  He  would  probably 
have  spoken  to  them  in  parables;  there  is  no  other  method 
of  relio-ious  teachino;  so  fresh  and  attractive  even  to  the 
learned.  Presenting  truth  in  the  concrete,  under  im- 
agery that  rather  suggests  than  fully  expresses  the  les- 
sons intended  to  be  conveyed,  it  at  once  stimulates  curios- 
ity, strikes  the  imagination,  convinces  the  judgment  and 
touches  the  heart.  The  parables  of  Jesus  are  marvellous 
for  their  power  of  opening  glimpses  and  vistas  into  regions 
of  thought  Avhich  logic  cannot  explore,  and  which  human 
language  is  powerless  to  describe  or  define.  Every  para- 
ble is  full  of  seed-thoughts  which  have  a  "springing  and 
germinant  power."  immortal  and  inexhaustible.  To  them 
may  l)e  especially  applied  the  profound  words  of  Neander 
concerning  the  teachings  of  Christ  in  general:  "Jesus 
would  not'have  l)('en  the  8on  of  Cod  and  the  Son  of  Man, 
had  not  His  words  like  His  works,  with  all  their  adapt- 
ations to  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  contained  some 
things  that  are  inexplicable — had  they  not  borne  within 


THE    TEACHINGS    OF   JESUS.  295 

them  tlie  germs  of  an  infinite  development,  reserved  for 
future  ages  to  unfold.  It  is  this  feature, — and  all  the  evan- 
gelists concur  in  their  representations  of  it, — which  distin- 
guishes Christ  from  all  other  teachers  of  men.  Advance 
as  they  may,  they  can  never  reach  Him;  their  only  task 
need  be,  by  taking  Him  more  and  more  into  their  life  and. 
thought,  to  learn  better  how  to  bring  forth  the  treasures 
that  lie  concealed  in  Him."  * 

During  the  last  eighteen  hundred  years  there  has  been 
a  grand  evolution  in  the  interpretation  of  Christ's  words, 
corresponding  to  the  progress  of  reason  and  science  in 
the  church.  But  it  is  in  this  day  more  than  ever  mani- 
fest that  those  words  contain  abysses  of  truth,  which  no 
exegetical  plummet  has  ever  sounded ;  oceans  which  the 
most  daring  and  eagle-eyed  explorer  has  never  surveyed. 
The  latent  truth  enveloped  in  many  a  maxim,  many  a 
discourse,  many  a  parable,  will  flash  out  in  living  light  on 
the  Christian  consciousness  of  the  ages  to  come.  The 
breadth  and  glory  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  will  only  be 
known  by  the  illuminated  millennial  church. 

The  evangelists  have  left  us  only  fragmentary  and  in- 
complete reports  of  our  Lord's  teachings.  It  strikes  some 
as  unaccountable  that  Jesus  Himself  did  not  commit  His 
words  to  writing,  that  the  truth  He  taught  might  be  trans- 
mitted in  integrity  and  perfection  of  form  as  well  as  of 
substance,  to  the  generations  following.  Doubtless  this 
was  possible ;  and  the  fact  that  it  was  not  done  is  of  itself 
a  sufficient  proof  that  it  was  not,  on  the  whole,  the  best 
and  wisest  thing  to  do.  "  The  truth  of  God  was  not  to  be 
presented  in  a  fixed  and  absolute  form,  but  in  peculiar 
and  manifold  representations,  designed  to  complete  each 
other;  and  while  bearing  the  stamp  at  once  of  God's  in- 
spiration and  man's  imperfection,  were  to  be  developed 

*Neander's  "Life  of  Christ,"  page  102. 


296  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIPJST. 

by  the  activity  of  free  minds,  in  free  and  lively  appro- 
priation of  what  God  had  given  by  His  Spirit."  * 

As  it  entered  thus  into  the  plan  of  Christ,  that  a  few 
fiiithful,  confidential  disciples  should  be  trained  for  the 
office  of  witnessing  to  the  great  facts  of  His  life  and  min- 
istry, and  of  reporting  the  substance  of  His  divine  say- 
ings, the  designation  and  training  of  the  apostles  must 
necessarily  occupy  a  conspicuous  place  in  this  history. 

*Neander's  "Life  of  Christ,"  page  100. 


CHAPTER    IX. 
THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

THE     EVANGELISTS     RECORD     BUT     FEW     OF     OUR    LORD'S     EXTENDED     DIS- 
COURSES  THE    "SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT,"   ITS    GENERAL    CHARACTER 

AND    DESIGN — ITS    RELATION    TO  THE    NEW    COVENANT    COMPARED  WITH 
THAT     OF     THE     "TEN     COMMANDMENTS"    TO     THE     OLD — CONTRAST    IN 
.    THE     CIRCUMSTANCES     OF     THEIR     COMMUNICATION    AND    GENERAL    NA- 
TURE— THE    "beatitudes" — THE     POOR    IN     SPIRIT — THE    PENITENT — 

THE  MEEK — THOSE  LONGING  FOR  RIGHTEOUSNESS THE  MERCIFUL — THE 

PURE   IN   HEART — THE   PEACEFUL — THE    PERSECUTED THE   OPPOSITION 

OF    ALL     THIS     TO    PHARISAISM — THE     POWER    OF    THESE    ELEMENTS     IN 

CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER — CHRISTIANS   AS   THE   "SALT  OF   THE  EARTH " 

CHRISTIANS    AS    THE    "  LIGHT    OF    THE    WORLD." 

It  is  a  significant  fact,  that  the  evangelists  have  given  us 
but  two  or  three  of  our  Lord's  more  extended  discourses. 
Indeed,  it  is  doubtful  whether  He  ever  delivered  more. 
Doubtless  the  divine  wisdom  v/hich  was  in  Him  saw  from 
the  beginning,  that  for  the  propagation  of  Christianity 
among  the  peop/e,  the  more  private,  personal  and  direct 
modes  of  instruction  were  the  most  fit  and  forcible.  Of 
these  discourses,  the  most  remarkable  is  the  one  in  which 
He  gave  His  first  full  and  definite  instructions  to  His  apos- 
tles. This  discourse,  recorded  by  Matthew,  and  called 
the  "Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  was  exclusively  addressed 
to  them,  and  probably  in  the  close  seclusion  of  His  retire- 
ment to  the  mountain  top,  whither  He  had  gone  to  escape 
the  pressure  of  the  multitude.  It  bears  a  confidential 
and  esoteric  character,  quite  unlike  those  He  addressed 
to  the  people  in  general.     It  was  designed  to  set  forth 


298  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

the!  fundamental  principles  of  the  new  covenant  for  the 
guidiince  and  use  of  the  apostolic  college.  As  such  it 
claims  a  special  and  somewhat  extended  notice. 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  related  to  the  new  cove- 
nant, somewhat  as  the  law  delivered  by  the  disposition  of 
ano-els  from  Sinai  was  related  to  the  old.    It  was  intended 

o 

clearly  to  disclose  the  nature  and  fundamental  principles 
of  that  new  sj)iritual  kingdom  which  Jesus  came  to  set  up, 
just  as  the  Ten  Commandments  revealed  the  spirit  and 
scope  of  the  theocracy  as  founded  and  administered  by 
Moses.  The  circumstances  attending  the  delivery  of  these 
two  grand  summaries  of  truth,  strikingly  represented  the 
difference  or  rather  the  contrast  between  them.  Both 
were  uttered  in  a  "  voice  of  words "  from  the  summits 
of  lofty  mountains,  to  signify  their  divine  and  heavenly 
origin  and  their  spiritual  nature.  The  laAV  of  Sinai,  how- 
ever, was  spoken  from  the  midst  of  thick  darkness  and 
consuming  llames,  amidst  thunderings  and  the  noise  of 
the  trumpet  waxing  louder  and  louder,  while  the  mount- 
ain trembled  and  shook.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
was  spoken  by  the  voice  of  a  Youth,  sitting  in  serene 
stillness  and  gentle  majesty  on  a  green  eminence,  in  the 
light  of  a  foir  Galilean  morning  sk}^,  surrounded  with 
simple-hearted  and  joyous  Galilean  peasants,  conscious  of 
the  fresh,  divine  glory  which  was  breaking  over  the  world. 
The  former  law  was  uttered  in  a  voice  of  stern  com- 
luimd.  tlircatcning  death  to  the  transgressor;  the  new 
law,  though  voiced  with  an  authority  all  divine,  breathed 
love  and  gentleness  and  peace.  The  former  was  written 
by  the  finger  of  God  on  tables  of  stone  ;  the  latter,  was 
written,  not  less  by  the  finger  of  God,  on  the  hearts  of 
those  who  heard  it.  The  former  was  a  law,  accommoda- 
ted in  its  form  to  tlie  intellectual  and  moral  condition  of 
a  childish,  though  not  childlike  people;  the  latter  is  abso- 
lute and   final,  setting  forth   the   essential   spiritual   and 


THE    SERMON    OX    TUE    MOUNT.  299 

ethical  principles  which  must  regulate  human  society  in 
its  perfect  state.  The  former  proclaims  the  conditions  of 
citizenship  under  a  theocracy  which  threatened  every  act 
of  transgression  and  disobedience  with  death ;  the  latter 
describes  that  spiritual  righteousness,  which,  notwithstand- 
ing its  moi-al  and  legal  imperfection,  constitutes  one  a 
subject  and  heir  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

When  Jesus  was  seated  He  "opened  His  mouth,"  with 
such  solemnity  as  was  fitting  the  moment  when  He  was 
about  to  loose  the  seal  of  this  new  "book  of  the  law." 
His  heart  was  full  of  divine  beatitudes;  and  therefore 
His  first  word  was  "  blessed," — a  word  which  may  Avell 
be  regarded  as  the  symbol  and  key  of  the  whole  gospel : 

'"''Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit ;  for  theirs  is  the  king- 
dom of  heaven. 

''Blessed  are  they  that  ')nour7i ;  for  they  shall  be  comforted. 

''Blessed  are  the  meek  ;  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth. 

'[Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  right- 
eousness ;  for  they  shall  be  filled. 

'''Blessed  are  the  merciful ;  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy. 

"Blessed  are  the  pure  iii  heart ;  for  they  shall  see  God. 

'''Blessed  are  the  peace-7nakers  ;  for  they  shall  be  called 
the  children  of  God. 

"Blessed  are  they  which  are  persecuted  for  righteousness 
sake ;  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heave^t. 

"Blessed  are  ye  zvhen  men  shall  revile  you  and  persecute 
you,  and  shall  say  all  maimer  of  evil  against  you  falsely 
for  my  sake.  Rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad ;  for  great  is 
your  reward  in  heaven ;  for  so  persecuted  they  the  prophets 
which  were  before  you.''* 

Happy  are  those  who  feel  their  spiritual  poverty  and 
wretchedness ;  who  have  found  no  satisfaction  in  earthly 


*  Matthew  V   3-12. 


300  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

possessions,  and  have  not  stilled  the  higher  aspirations  of 
their  souls  by  earthly  delights ;  who  do  not  trust  in  their 
Abraluiniic  blood,  and  are  not  inllated  with  the  pride  of 
Pharisaic  wisdom  and  righteousness;  but  are  profoundly 
conscious  of  their  spiritual  wants  and  their  utter  misery* 

Happy  too  are  all  true  mourners; — all  who  are  con- 
scious of  their  inward  woe;  all  who  are  of  broken  and 
contrite  heart  by  reason  of  sin,  penetrated  with  holy 
grief,  burdened  and  sorrowful  in  spirit  because  they  have 
done  evil  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  because  they  are  evil 
in  their  very  nature.!  All  such  mourners  shall  be  com, 
forted,  though  their  sins  be  like  scarlet,  though  they  be 
red  like  crimson.^ 

Happy  are  the  meek,  the  gentle-spirited  and  lowly  in 
heart ;  for  they,  though  averse  to  power  and  dominion, 
shall  gain  possession  of  the  earth  and  reign  as  kings 
upon  it.  ''  The  inheritance  of  the  earth  is  that  world-do- 
minion which  Christians  as  organs  of  the  spirit  of  Christ 
are  ever  more  and  more  to  obtain,  as  the  kingdom  of  God 
shall  win  increasing  sway  over  mankind  and  the  relations 
of  society,  until,  in  its  final  consummation,  the  whole  earth 
shall  own  its  dominion;  and  the  power  which  is  to  gain 
this  world-dominion,  is  meekness.  The  quiet  might  of 
gentleness  it  is  with  which  God's  kingdom  is  to  subjugate 
the  world."  §  Milton  has  happily  hit  the  sense  of  this 
beatitude  in  the  phrase  applied  to  martyrs,  "  unresistible 
miglit  of  weakness."  || 

Happy,  continues  our  Lord,  are  all  who  are  hungry  and 
thirs/i/. — powerful  epithets  to  describe  that  intense  desire 
for  true  righteousness,  for  the  bread  and  water  of  spiritual 

*Soe  Neanflor's  "  Life  of  Christ,"'  page  225. 

t  Psalms  li.  ?A. 

t  Isaiah  i.  18. 

§  Neandor's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  pages  225,  22G. 

II  See  Tract  on  "  Reformation." 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  301 

life,  which  are  only  given,  which  can  only  be  given,  to 
those  who  long  for  them.     They  shall  be  satisfied, 

Happy  are  those  who  are  full  of  pity  towards  their 
sinful  and  suffering  brethren,  forgiving  their  trespasses, 
relieving  their  wants,  soothing  their  sorrows ;  yea,  happy 
are  the  merciful,  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy. 

Happy  are  the  pure  in  heart.  This  implies  an  entrance 
into  the  kingdom  of  God  already  effected ;  righteousness 
already  gained,  spiritual  comfort  and  satisfaction  already 
enjoyed.  Those  who  are  in  the  kingdom  Christ  describes 
as  "pure  in  heart,"  not  however  according  to  a  legal  stand- 
ard, but  according  to  a  new  criterion,  by  w^hich  the  peni- 
tent and  believing  are  adjudged  and  accounted  morally 
spotless.  The  pure-hearted, — the  regenerate, — shall  see 
God;  they  shall  have  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  the  di- 
vine nature,  shall  discern  more  and  more  the  beauty  of 
His  holiness ;  shall  enter  into  perfect  communion  with 
Him ;  shall  enjoy  the  bliss  of  His  living  and  eternal 
presence. 

Happy  are  those  who,  thus  reconciled  to  God,  filled  with 
His  peace,  and  inspired  with  love  and  meekness,  seek  to 
live  in  concord  with  all  men  and  to  promote  peace  on  the 
earth  ;  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God.  All  men 
will  recognize  in  them  a  likeness  to  their  Father  in  heaven, 
who  maketh  His  sun  to  shine  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good, 
and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust.  They  are 
not,  however,  to  dream  that  their  outward  lot  on  earth  will 
be  uniformly  peaceful ;  for  as  belonging  to  a  kingdom  not 
of  this  world,  a  kingdom  of  righteousness,  peace  and  joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  they  will  inevitably  come  in  collision 
with  worldly  men  and  worldly  kingdoms ;  and  hence  they 
must  expect  persecutions.  Nevertheless  they  are  still  to 
account  themselves  blessed. 

Happy  are  they  who  are  persecuted  for  righteousness' 
sake ;    for    theirs    is    the    kingdom    of  heaven.     Happy, 


302  THE    LIFE    OF    CHEIST. 

though  derided  and  slandered,  and  pursued  with  impla- 
cable malice ;  for  even  on  earth  the  kingdom  shall  be 
theirs,  and  they  shall  have  an  exceeding  reward  in  heaven. 

In  these  few  strokes  Jesus  delineates  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  How  unlike  the  kingdoms  of  this  world !  How 
unlike  that  kingdom  which  the  Pharisees  were  expecting 
their  Messiah  to  establish !  This  poverty  of  spirit,  this 
holy  mourning,  this  meek  humility,  this  longing  for  in- 
ward spiritual  righteousness,  this  compassion  towards  the 
sinful  and  the  needy,  this  purity  of  heart,  this  peaceful 
and  peace-making  spirit,  this  joy  in  persecution,  and 
this  hope  of  a  heavenly  reward, — all  these  were  utterly 
foreign,  utterly  opposed  to  the  Pharisaic  spirit. 

And  yet  these  elements  of  character,  in  the  eyes  of 
worldly  sensuality,  deceitfulness,  pride,  and  ambition, 
so  weak  and  contemptible,  were  to  constitute  the  true 
stren2:th  of  the  Christian  church:  were  to  exert  a  trans- 
forming  influence  on  mankind  throughout  the  ages.  Pos- 
sessed of  these.  Christians  were  to  be  the  salt  of  the  earth, 
the  light  of  the  icorld;* — the  source  of  an  influence  which 
should  at  once  counteract  the  moral  corruption  and  illu- 
minate the  darkness  of  the  world.  As  it  is  characteristic 
of  salt,  when  brought  in  contact  with  bodies  which  it  is 
intended  to  preserve,  to  work  secretly  and  silently  till  it 
has  permeated  the  whole  mass,  and  brought  it  all  under 
its  antiseptic  influence  ;  so  w^ould  the  spirit  of  Jesus  oper- 
ating through  His  disciples,  as  secretly  and  silently  pene- 
trate the  corrupt  mass  of  human  society,  till  every  part 
should  be  reached  and  brought  under  its  saving  power. 
And  as  salt  ichich  has  not  lost  its  savor,  thus  brought  into 
inward  contact  with  all  their  parts,  preserves  from  putre- 
faction bodies  otherwise  subject  to  speedy  decay, — so  the 
true  disciples  of  Jesus  should  preserve  humanity  fVom  the 

Matthew  v.  13. 


THE    SERMON    ON    TDE    MOUNT.  303 

moral  corruption  to  which  it  so  naturally,  we  may  say  so 
inevitahly  tends ;  for  such  is  the  downward  drift  of  human 
nature,  that,  but  for  the  elevating  influence  of  the  higher 
life  of  the  church,  it  would  steadily  sink  deeper  and 
deeper,  until  finally  swallowed  up  in  an  abyss  of  utter 
and  hopeless  ruin. 

Still  further :  possessed  of  these  sj^iritual  and  divine 
elements  of  character,  Christians  are,  both  by  their  faith 
and  works,  the  light  of  the  world*  As  it  is  the  very  na- 
ture of  light,  if  not  impeded  by  other  and  grosser  ele- 
ments than  itself,  to  make  its  way  directly  and  almost 
instantaneously  everywhere,  itself  in  its  own  clear  and 
gladdening  rays  spontaneously  revealed,  and  as  spontane- 
ously revealing  all  things  else, — so  it  is  with  a  true  disci- 
pleship — with  "pure  religion  and  undefiled"  in  the  heart 
of  the  followers  of  Jesus.  It  needs  no  struggle  to  make 
itself  or  its  character  evident  to  the  world ;  it  only  asks 
that  it  shall  not  be  obstructed  by  gross  or  sensual  ele- 
ments in  the  heart  or  life  ;  give  it  free  course,  and  it  will 
be  glorified.  And  not  this  only,  it  will  reveal  so  clearly 
the  character  of  God,  the  great  jDrincijDles  of  His  govern- 
ment, and  the  spirit  of  truth  and  life  and  love  in  Jesus, 
that  the  gross  darkness  which  enshrouds  the  world  will  be 
more  and  more  dispelled,  until  at  length  men  will  glorify 
their  "  Father  in  heaven." 

*  Matthew  V.  li-lG. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  SERMON  OX  THE  MOUNT  CONCLUDED. 

THE  RELATION  OF  THE  NEW  COVENANT  TO  THE  OLD — ILLUSTRATIONS 
OF  THE  LAW  AS  PERFECTED  IN  THE  GOSPEL — THE  GOSPEL  AS  CON- 
TRASTED WITH  PHARISAICAL  PRACTICES — THE  MODEL  PRAYER — THE 
DISCIPLES  WARNED  AGAINST  PHARISAICAL  COVETOUSNESS — AGAINST 
PHARISAICAL  CENSORIOUSNESS^-THE  "GOLDEN  RULE" — THE  DISCIPLES 
WARNED  AGAINST  FALSE  TEACHERS — IMPLICIT  AND  HEARTY  OBEDI- 
ENCE, AS  OPPOSED  TO  EMPTY  PROFESSION  AND  OUTWARD  FORM,  THE 
SUnSTANCE  OF  TRUE  RIGHTEOUSNESS — THE  RENDERING  OF  THIS  OBE- 
DIENCE TO  JESUS  AND  HIS  TEACHINGS  ESSENTIAL  TO  SALVATION — THE 
SUIILIME    FORCE    OF    OUR    LORD's    CLOSING    LANGUAGE. 

Having  thus  in  a  general  way  set  forth  the  fundamental 
principles  of  His  kingdom,  portrayed  the  character  of  His 
subjects,  declared  their  blessedness,  and  described,  under 
striking  symbols,  their  great  mission,  Jesus  proceeds*  to 
show  the  relation  of  the  new  covenant  of  which  He  was 
the  Mediator,  to  the  old  covenant.  He  was  accused  by 
the  Pharisees  of  being  hostile  to  the  law.  The  time  had 
come  for  Him  to  declare  plainly  that  the  former  covenant 
was  not  destroyed  but  fulfilled ;  was  not  done  away,  but 
transfigured,  glorified  and  perpetuated  in  the  gospel.  The 
law  in  its  si)irit  and  intent,  though  not  in  its  very  let- 
ter, was  incorporated,  in  a  universal  and  absolute  form, 
into  the  new  law  which  Christ  gave  to  His  disciples,  and 
through  them  to  the  world. 

Of  this  grand  principle  Jesus  gives  a  number  of  strik- 
ing examples.     The  command,  '-Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  is 

*  Matthew  V.  7-48. 


THE    SERMOX    ON    THE    MOUNT. 

carried  to  a  loftier  elevation,  and  made  prohibitory,  not 
only  of  injurious  words  but  of  angry  feeling :  the  com- 
mand, "  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,"  is  interpreted  as 
forbidding  all  prurient  thoughts  and  unchaste  desires; — 
an  extension,  in  each  case,  transparently  just  and  neces- 
sary, since  it  were  simply  absurd  to  prohibit  any  sin,  and 
yet  give  free  rein  to  its  necessary  concomitants  and  incen- 
tives. So  also  the  precept,  "  Thou  shalt  not  forswear  thy- 
self, but  shalt  perform  unto  the  Lord  thine  oaths,"  be- 
comes in  the  law  of  Christ  an  injunction  to  maintain  a 
veracity  so  high  and  unswerving  that  oaths  and  vows  will 
be  quite  superfluous  and  even  criminal.  The  saying,  "An 
eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth," — a  maxim  which  bound 
tlie  Jewish  courts  to  punish  wrongs  done  by  individuals 
at  the  suit  of  the  individuals  wronged,  is  not  repealed  by 
Christ;  but  He  restrains  His  disciples  from  claiming  the  in- 
fliction of  the  legal  penalties  on  those  who  injured  them, 
requiring  them  rather  to  suffer  patiently  even  violence 
and  oppression.  The  great  command,  "Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbor," — to  which  the  Pharisees  had  added  what 
seemed  to  them  the  natural  complement,  "thou  shalt  hate 
thine  enemy," — is  separated  by  Jesus  from  the  devil's 
maxim  thus  married  to  the  divine  command,  and  is  ex- 
plained as  requiring  love  to  strangers  and  even  enemies. 
It  is  thus  lifted  above  all  the  earthliness  and  night  of  selfish 
and  revengeful  human  nature,  like  some  sublime  summit, 
rising  above  the  mists  and  vapors  into  the  rosy  light  of  an 
unclouded  sun. 

Our  Lord,  having  thus  set  forth  the  distinction  between 
the  law  and  the  gospel,  and  having  demonstrated  their 
essential  unity,  now  proceeds  to  contrast  true  evangelical 
righteousness  with  the  counterfeit  righteousness  of  the 
Pharisees.*     This  contrast  was,  in  a  word,  "  the  contrast 


*  Matthew  vi.  1-18. 
20 


30G  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

between  heing  and  seeming."*  The  hypocrites  did  their 
alms  to  be  seen  of  men ;  Christians  are  not  to  let  the  left 
hand  hiow  what  the  right  hand  doeth.  The  Pharisees 
prayed  with  many  vain  though  high-sounding  repetitions, 
standing  at  the  corners  of  the  streets ;  Christians  are  to 
pray  in  secret  and  in  childhke  simpUcity.  The  same 
principle  is  applied  to  the  kindred  office  of  fasting,  which 
should  be  a  secret  and  spiritual  humiliation  rather  than 
an  ostentatious  ceremony.  As  indicative  of  the  spirit  of 
both  these  exercises,  and  as  an  aid  to  their  devotions,  Jesus 
gives  in  this  connection  a  pattern  prayer,  so  comprehen- 
sive, so  exactly  suited  to  the  wants  of  men  in  all  ages  and 
in  all  circumstances,  that  it  has  become  the  basis  and  sub- 
stance of  all  Christian  worship.  Nothing  can  be  added 
to  it  or  taken  from  it. 

''Oicr  Father  wJiich  art  in  heaven  : 
Hallowed  be  thy  name. 
Thy  kingdom  come. 

Thy  will  be  do7te  in  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven. 
Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread. 
And  forgive  us  our  debts,  as  we  forgive  our  debtors. 
And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil; 
For  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory, 
forever :     A  7nenr  f 

Our  Lord  now  addresses  to  His  disciples  an  earnest  ex- 
hortation against  love  of  the  world — against  that  covet- 
ous eagerness  to  lay  up  treasure  on  earth,  which,  notwith- 
standing the  professional  sanctity  of  the  Pharisees,  was  a 
marked  characteristic  of  the  sect.  Nothing  could  be 
more  beautiful  or  impressive  than  the  following  words, 
spoken,  as  they  were,  to  a  company  of  Galilean  peasants, 
whose  poverty,  one  would  think,  might  have  justified  the 

♦Neandcr's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  page  235.         t  Matthew  vi.  9-13. 


THE    SEKMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  307 

most  provident  care  to  supply  themselves  with  food  and 
raiment : 

"  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth,  where 
moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  break 
ihrough  and  steal ;  but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in 
heaven,  where  neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt,  and 
where  thieves  do  not  break  through  nor  steal ;  for  where 
your  treasure  is  there  will  your  heart  be  also. 

"  The  light  of  the  body  is  the  eye ;  if,  therefore,  thine 
eye  be  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light ;  but 
if  thine  eye  be  evil,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  dark- 
ness. K,  therefore,  the  light  that  is  in  thee  be  darkness, 
how  great  is  that  darkness ! 

"  No  man  can  serve  two  masters ;  for  either  he  will  hate 
the  one  and  love  the  other;  or  else  he  will  hold  to  the 
one  and  despise  the  other.  Ye  can  not  serve  God  and 
mammon.  Therefore  I  say  unto  you,  Take  no  thought 
for  your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat,  or  what  ye  shall  drink ; 
nor  yet  for  your  body,  what  ye  shall  put  on.  Is  not  the 
life  more  than  meat,  and  the  body  than  raiment  ? 

"  Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air :  for  they  sow  not,  neither 
do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns ;  yet  your  Heavenly 
Father  feedeth  them.  Are  ye  not  much  better  than  they  ? 
W^hich  of  you,  by  taking  thought,  can  add  one  cubit  unto 
liis  stature  ?  And  why  take  ye  thought  for  raiment  ? 
Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field  how  they  grow ;  they  toil 
hot,  neither  do  they  spin ;  and  yet  I  say  unto  you  that 
even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of 
these.  Wherefore,  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field, 
which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall 
He  not  much  more  clothe  you,  0  ye  of  little  faith  ?  There- 
fore take  no  thought,  saying,  What  shall  we  eat,  or  what 
shall  we  drink?  or  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed;  (for 
after  all  these  things  do  the  Gentiles  seek,)  for  your  Heav- 
enly Father  knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of  all  these  thiugs; 


308  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

but  seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  you.  Take,  therefore,  no  thought  for 
the  morrow ;  for  the  morrow  shall  take  thought  for  the 
things  of  itself;  sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof"* 

After  this  beautiful  and  consoling  exhortation,  Jesus 
warns  the  disciples  against  another  characteristic  sin  of 
the  Pharisees,  While  in  their  utter  ignorance  of  them- 
selves, they  were  self-indulgent  and  self-complacent,  they 
were  ready  to  pass  the  most  severe  and  uncharitable  judg- 
ments on  others.  This  was,  however,  foreign  to  the  spirit 
of  the  new  kingdom.  "Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged  ; 
for  with  what  judgment  ye  judge  ye  shall  be  judged  ;  and 
with  what  measure  ye  mete  it  shall  be  measured  to  you 
again.  And  why  beholdest  thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy 
brother's  eye,  but  considerest  not  the  beam  that  is  in  thine 
own  eye ;  or  how  wilt  thou  say  to  thy  brother ;  Let  me 
pull  out  the  mote  that  is  in  thine  eye  ;  and  behold  a  beam 
is  in  thine  own  eye  ?  Thou  hypocrite,  first  cast  out  the 
beam  that  is  in  thine  own  eye ;  and  then  shalt  thou  see 
clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  that  is  in  thy  brother's  eye."  f 

The  same  principle  is  touched  upon  in  the  great  ethical 
maxim: — "Therefore,  all  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that 
men  should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them."  $  If  you 
would  be  truly  righteous,  "  Place  yourselves  in  the  con- 
dition of  others,  and  act  towards  them  as  vou  would  wish 
thorn  in  such  a  case  to  act  towards  you."  §  Do  this,  if  you 
would  exercise  the  like  forbearance  and  mercy  toward 
others,  which  in  the  petition — "  Forgive  us  our  trespasses 
as  we  forgive  those  who  trespass  against  us,"  you  desire 
your  Father  in  heaven  to  exercise  toward  you. 

In  concluding  this  impressive  and  pregnant  discourse, 
our  Lord,  knowing  that  the  disciples  would  be  tempted 

*  Matthew  vi,  19-34.  t  Matthew  vii.  1-5. 

t  Matthew  vii.  12.  §  Neanfler's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  p.  23G. 


THE    SERMON    ON    THE    MOUNT.  309 

to  regard  an  entrance  into  His  kingdom  as  difl&cult,  if 
not  impossible,  admonishes  them  that  the  blessings  offered 
could  be  obtained  on  no  easier  terms.  "  Enter  ye,"  says 
He,  "  into  the  straight  gate ;  for  wide  is  the  gate  and 
broad  is  the  way  that  leadeth  to  destruction,  and  many 
there  be  whicli  go  in  thereat ;  because  straight  is  the  gate 
and  narrow  is  the  way  which  leadeth  unto  life,  and  few 
there  be  that  find  it."  *  Knowing,  further,  the  dangers  to 
which  His  disciples,  in  seeking  this  straight  gate,  would  be 
exposed  from  the  seductions  of  false  teachers,  Jesus  lays 
down  a  test  by  which  the  character  of  all  such  persons 
may  be  tried  and  its  real  nature  be  infallibly  determined. 
"-  Ye  shall  know  them  by  their  fruits."  f  There  is  a  neces- 
sary connection  and  harmony  between  the  faith  and  the 
works,  the  heart  and  the  life,  Avhich  must  sooner  or  later 
evince  itself.  It  is  as  necessarily  so  as  that  the  foliage 
and  fruitage  of  the  plant  must  determine  its  order  and 
its  worth.  And  this  beyond  any  possibility  of  deceptive 
change  or  even  effective  concealment.  The  evil  hearts  of 
these  false  teachers  would  become  manifest  in  their  evil 
Hves  and  the  evil  effects  of  their  doctrine.  Though  they 
might  come  in  sheep's  clothing,  they  would  not  fail  eventu- 
ally to  betray  their  wolfish  nature. 

Indeed,  the  disciples  were  to  remember  that,  not  even 
under  the  ceremonial  dispensation  did  outward  profession 
or  conformity  answer  the  ends  sought,  but  only  the  inward 
conception  of  the  thing  signified,  and  hearty  accordance 
with  its  spirit  and  law.  Much  more  must  this  be  true  of 
a  spiritual  religion  like  that  of  Jesus.  No  outward  pro- 
fession ;  no  form  of  worship,  no  appearance  of  sanctity ; 
not  even  the  performance  of  mighty  works,  so  apparently 
indicative  of  a  divine  presence  and  favor; — none  of  these 
would  secure  the  salvation  of  those  who  did  not  yield  a 

♦Matthew  yii.  13,  14.  t  Matthew  vii.  16. 


310  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

true  and  hearty  obedience  to  the  revealed  will  of  God. 
"IS'ot  every  one,"  says  our  Lord, — "not  every  one  that 
saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  .shall  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  ;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which 
is  in  heaven.  Many  will  say  unto  me  in  that  day,  Lord, 
Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in  Thy  name  ?  and  in  Thy 
name  cast  out  devils,  and  in  Thy  name  done  many  wonder- 
ful works  ?  And  then  will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never 
knew  you:  depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity."* 

Having  thus  distinctly  set  forth  spiritual  obedience  as 
essential  to  true  holiness,  our  Lord  proceeds,  in  a  per- 
oration of  the  most  striking  character,  to  declare  the 
absolute  necessity  to  salvation  of  rendering  this  prompt 
and  unquestioning  obedience  directly  to  Him  and  to  His 
words,  as  henceforth  the  supreme  law  of  all  religious  life. 
"  Therefore,  whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine  and 
doeth  them,  I  will  liken  him  unto  a  wise  man,  which  built 
his  liouse  upon  a  rock:  And  the  rain  descended,  and  the 
floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house ; 
and  it  fell  iK)t;  for  it  was  founded  upon  a  rock.  And  every 
one  that  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine  and  doeth  them 
not,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man,  which  built  his 
house  upon  the  sand ;  and  the  rain  descended,  and  the 
floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house, 
and  it  fell,  and  great  was  the  fall  of  it."  f 

Brief  as  is  this  passage,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of 
auytliiiiL'"  more  terribly  explicit  and  energetic.  Standing 
forth  in  the  full  majesty  and  power  of  His  divine  authority 
as  the  new  Prophet,  Priest  and  King,  our  Lord  seizes  upon 
the  terrors  of  a  tropical  tempest,  and  with  all  the  fervor 
of  an  oriental  imagination,  presses  them  into  the  service 
of  His  oratory, — a  transition  which,  compared  with  the 
previous    iniimpassioned    didactic    character    of  His   dis- 

*  Matthew  vii.  21-23.  f  Matthew  vii.  24-27. 


THE    SERMON    OX    THE    MOUNT.  311 

course,  must  have  startled  if  not  appalled  His  hearers, 
like  a  burst  of  thunder  from  a  cloudless  sky.  We  can 
not  but  believe  that  it  revealed  to  them  the  certain  pres- 
ence of  the  Godhead  in  Jesus;  and  that  it  impressed 
upon  them  the  awful  conviction  that  under  the  new  dis- 
pensation, so  full  of  grace  to  the  willing  and  obedient, 
to  the  unbelieving  and  rebellious,  to  those  who  should 
trample  under  foot  the  blood  of  the  covenant  and  count 
it  an  unholy  thing,  there  was  not  less  near  at  hand  than 
of  old,  a  Sinai  whose  thunders  were  a  voice  of  doom,  and 
whose  lightnings  were  "  a  consuming  fire." 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  SERMON   OX  THE  PLAIN. 

JESUS  DESCENDS  TO  THE  PLAIN  AND  DELIVERS  THE  SERMON  TO  THE 
MULTITUDE — THE  PERPLEXITY  OF  COMMENTATORS  WITH  REGARD  TO 
THE  TWO  ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  SERMON  GIVEN  BY  MATTHEW  AND  LUKE— 
THE  TRUE  EXPLANATION  OF  THEIR  APPARENT  DISCREPANCIES — THE 
TWO  EVANGELISTS  CONSISTENT  WITH  EACH  OTHER — DIFFERENCE  BE- 
TWEEN THE  TWO  SERMONS  AS  TO  THE  "BEATITUDES"  —  OTHER  DI- 
VERGENCIES— THESE,  PROOFS  THAT  THE  SECOND  SERMON  WAS  DELIV- 
ERED TO  THE  MULTITUDE — CHRIST  NOW  ABOUT  TO  ENTER  ON  A  NEW 
AND    MORE    IMPORTANT    PHASE    OF    HIS    MISSION. 

Having  finished  tlie  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  our  Lord 
descended  to  the  plain  or  lower  plateau  of  the  mountain, 
where  the  multitude  awaited  His  coming.  Here,  accord- 
ing to  Luke,  whose  statements  are  of  the  most  explicit 
character,*  He  addressed  the  substance  of  the  discourse 
to  the  multitude,  in  a  more  popular  style  and  with  some 
important  variations.  Commentators,  from  Augustine 
down,  have  been  much  perplexed  by  these  variations,  in- 
volving as  it  has  appeared  to  them,  certain  discrepancies 
between  the  accounts  of  Matthew  and  Luke.  A  plain, 
intelligent  reader  would,  however,  be  puzzled  to  find  any 
discrepancy. 

That  Jesus  should  deliver  the  substance  of  the  same 
discourse  to  different  audiences  on  the  same  day,  is  alto- 
gether credible.    To  assume  that  He  did  not  is  to  overlook 

*L.ikc  vi.  17. 


THE  SERMON  ON  THE  PLAIN.  318 

the  fact  that  He  was  presenting  fundamental  doctrhie 
which  must  be  communicated  to  all.  As  a  Teacher  of 
new  ideas,  especially  as  a  Teacher  of  illiterate  disciples 
and  followers,  almost  constant  repetition  was  necessary. 
It  was  thus  only  tliat  His  spiritual  and  sublime  doctrines 
could  be  made  clear  to  the  understanding  of  His  hearers, 
and  be  indelibly  impressed  on  their  memory.  Doubtless, 
many  of  His  most  striking  maxims  and  several  of  His 
parables  were  frequently  repeated,  and  with  such  varia- 
tions as  were  suggested  by  the  immediate  circumstances. 
This  hypothesis  harmonizes  a  large  number  of  the  alleged 
discrepancies. 

In  regard  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  words  of 
the  evangelists  are  so  explicit  that  we  can  only  wonder 
at  the  difficulty  which  so  many  learned  writers  have  made 
rather  than  found  in  the  inspired  history.  Matthew, 
always  concise  in  the  relation  of  facts,  says  that  Jesus, 
seeing  the  multitude,  went  uj)  into  a  mountain,  and  sitting 
there  delivered  the  Sermon  to  the  disciples.  But  He 
plainly  intimates  at  the  close  that  the  same  sayings  were 
substantially  repeated  in  the  hearing  of  the  people.* 
Luke  speaks  of  His  going  up  into  the  momitain,  and  there 
calling  to  Him  His  disciples ;  but  he  omits  the  more  ex- 
tended and  esoteric  discourse  there  delivered ;  recording, 
however,  the  popular  version  of  the  same,  spoken  by  our 
Lord  while  standing  with  His  disciples  and  the  multitude 
on  the  plain.  Surely  here  is  no  discrepancy, — not  even  a 
difficulty. 

The  second  Sermon  on  the  Mount  differs  from  the  first, 
in  the  omission  of  much  that  a  promiscuous  audience,  in 
which  were  doubtless  many  Pharisees  and  cavilers,  might 
have  construed  into  an  attack  on  the  law,  and  in  the 
amplification   of  certain  passages   of  a  more   hortatory 

♦Matthew  vii.  28,  29. 


314  THE    LIFE    OF    CHEIST. 

character.  Thus  we  find  nothing  of  the  authoritative 
interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  precepts,  which  constitutes  a 
principal  feature  of  the  earher  address.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Beatitudes, — which  are  much  abridged, — are  fol- 
lowed by  a  series  of  woes :  "  Woe  unto  you  that  are  rich, 
for  ye  have  received  your  consolation.  Woe  unto  you 
that  are  full:  for  ye  shall  hunger.  Woe  unto  you  that 
laugh  now  :  for  ye  shall  mourn  and  weep.  Woe  unto  you 
when  all  men  shall  speak  well  of  you :  for  so  did  their 
fathers  to  the  false  prophets."  *  Thus,  too,  the  paragraphs 
relating  to  love  to  enemies,  and  to  uncharitable  judging, 
are  beautifully  expanded.  It  is  significant  also  that  our 
Lord  says  nothing  to  the  multitude  about  prayer,  and  He 
does  not  give  them  that  inimitable  model  which  He  had 
just  before  given  to  the  disciples  on  the  Mount.  The 
truth  is,  the  former  were  not  yet  prepared  to  come  to  God 
in  a  filial  spirit.  They  knew  not  God  as  their  Father; 
how  could  they  then  address  Him  as  such  ? 

These  variations  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Plain  furnish 
indubitable  internal  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  hypothe- 
sis adopted.  To  this  proof  may  be  added  its  brevity.  Ad- 
dressed to  a  restless  multitude,  more  eager  to  witness  His 
miracles  and  to  be  healed  by  His  touch,  than  to  hear  His 
words  and  to  be  made  wise  unto  salvation,  this  brevity  is 
precisely  what  we  should  expect  from  the  divine  sagacity 
of  Jesus,  as  adapting  Himself  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
case. 

Having  thus  completed  our  study  of  these  two  memo- 
rable discourses,  we  are  prepared  to  enter  with  the  sacred 
historians  upon  a  new  period  in  our  Lord's  ministry.  He 
had  now,  in  calling  the  apostles  and  giving  to  them  these 
definite  instructions,  practically  organized  the  new  church, 
and  put  niiuself  bcfcjre  the  world  as  the  founder  of  a  new 

♦Luke  vi.  24-26. 


THE  SERMOX  ON  THE  PLAIN.  315 

religion.  He  had  thus  joined  a  formal  issue  with  the  old 
order  of  things  and  with  all  the  existing  sects  connected 
with  it.  We  shall  therefore  look  for  greater  activity  and 
boldness  in  all  His  operations.  The  church  militant  must 
now  evince  its  radical  and  aggressive  character,  although 
for  the  present  more  especially  represented  in  its  Head 
alone. 


PART   VI. 


Our  Lord's  Larger  Galilean 
Ministry. 


CHAPTER    I. 
JESUS   HEALS   THE   CENTURION'S   SERVANT. 

THE  MULTITUDE  AGAIN  GATHER  TO  JESUS — HIS  ZEAL  AND  ACTIVITY — 
THE  CENTURION — HIS  AFFLICTION — HE  APPEALS  TO  JESUS — HIS  MES- 
SAGE    TO     OUR     LORD     BY    THE     WAY — JESUS     COMMENDS    HIS     FAITH 

HIS    FAITH   CONTRASTED    WITH    THAT    OF    THE   NOBLEMAN    OF    CANA. 

Having  finished  His  discourse  to  the  people,  our  Lord 
returns  to  Capernaum.  Here  the  multitude,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  temporarily  dispersed  after  returning  from 
the  mountain,  again  assembled  about  Him,  and  doubtless 
in  greatly  increased  numbers.  This  would  naturally  re- 
sult from  the  interest  excited  by  His  recent  discourse, 
and  from  the  constantly  widening  fame  of  His  wonderful 
works.  Possibly  also  His  choice  of  the  apostles  awakened 
an  expectation  that  He  was  about  to  reveal  Himself  more 
openly  and  decisively  as  the  Messiah.  To  the  work  of 
ministering  to  the  w\ints  of  this  multitude,  both  as  it 
regarded  teaching  them  and  healing  their  sick,  Jesus  gave 
Himself  with  renewed  devotion.  Though  they  pressed 
upon  Him,  so  that  He  had  no  time  even  to  eat,*  He  neither 
faltered  nor  fell  short  under  the  excessive  labors  imposed 
upon  Him.  Indeed,  His  application  to  His  work  w^as  so 
intense  that  His  friends  became  alarmed  for  Him.  To 
them  it  seemed  little  less  than  an  inconsiderate,  an  almost 

*  Mark  lii.  20. 


320  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

insane*  zeal,  which  must  speedily  result  in  His  complete 
prostration. 

This  prodigious  activity  on  the  part  of  Jesus  deserves 
special  attention.  It  can  not  be  doubted  that,  touched 
upon  though  it  frequently  is  by  the  evangelists,  we  too 
often  fail  to  form  just  ideas  of  His  labors,  and  of  the  su- 
perhuman energy  which  Pie  displayed.  The  consequence 
is,  we  see  Jesus  in  His  divine  purity,  gentleness  and  love ; 
but  our  eyes  are  holden  so  that  we  do  not  behold  Him  in 
II  is  not  less  wonderful  industry,  endurance  and  power. 
What  we  need  to  do,  is  to  take  these  brief  flashes  of  nar- 
rative, and  hold  them,  so  to  speak,  steadily  before  our 
minds  until  these  wonderful  scenes  come  before  us  in 
clear  and  vivid  reality.  We  must  see  the  multitudes 
thronging  the  house,  crowding  the  streets, — those  near 
at  hand  jostling  each  other ;  those  more  distant  pressing 
closer  and  closer,  or  forcing  their  way  through  the  living 
mass,  in  order  to  bring  their  sick  into  the  presence  of 
Jesus, — and  all  one  hum  of  excitement  and  confusion. 
Amidst  all  this,  we  must  see  Jesus  moving  with  unruf- 
fled serenity  and  confidence ;  never  halting  yet  never 
hurried ;  never  violent  yet  never  borne  back ;  hushing 
all  to  quietness  and  yet  repelling  none  ;  speaking  brief 
words  of  wisdom  to  every  attentive  listener;  meeting 
every  applicant  for  healing  virtue  w^ith  quick  but  quiet 
touch  of  saving  power;  dismissing  those  relieved  with 
firm  but  gentle  grace,  in  order  to  make  room  for  others ; 
and  so  from  morning  till  night,  meeting  all,  satisfying-  all, 
amazing  all, — all  this  we  must  see,  in  order  to  do  justice 
to  the  prodigious,  the  superhuman  executive  capacity  of 
Jesus. 

The  first  mighty  work  narrated  of  our  Lord  after  His 
return  was  the  following : — There  was  in  Capernaum  a 

*  Mark  iii.  21. 


HEALING    OF    THE    CENTURION's    SERVANT.  321 

Roman  garrison.  One  of  the  officers  of  this  garrison  was 
a  centurion,  a  man  .«o  upright,  amiiible  and  devout,  that 
he  was  held  in  universal  honor  by  l)otli  Jews  and  Gentiles. 
Though  educated  a  pagan,  he  had  by  long  residence  among 
the  Jews  imbibed  a  deep  love  of  the  true  religion,  and 
had  even  at  his  own  expense,  built  a  synagogue  for  the 
worship  of  Jehovah.  This  man  was  just  now  in  deep 
affliction.  His  favorite  servant,  who  was  rather  a  son 
than  a  servant  to  him,  was  sick  of  palsy,  a  disease  in  that 
hot  climate  often  accompanied  with  tetanus  or  lock-jaw, 
and  therefore  much  more  painful  than  among  us.  The 
case  was  an  urgent  one ;  for  the  sick  man  was  evidently 
past  all  human  help. 

Familiar  with  the  teachings  and  the  miracles  of  Jesus, 
whom  he  must  have  seen  often,  and  entertaining  for  Him 
a  feeling  of  the  deepest  veneration,  it  occurs  to  him,  as 
he  learns  that  Jesus  is  returning  to  the  city,  to  apply  to 
Him  for  helf).  "  Why  may  I  not  ask  Him  to  heal  my  ser- 
vant ?  But,  no  :  I  am  a  Gentile  sinner ;  I  am  unworthy 
to  approach  Him."  He  reflects,  however,  that  though  he 
may  not  personally  present  his  request,  his  Jewish  friends 
may  be  willing  to  intercede  for  him,  and  they  will  doubt- 
less both  have  access  to  Jesus  and  influence  with  Him. 
He  accordingly  applies  to  them,  and  they  willingly  under- 
take his  mission.  As  our  Lord  is  entering  the  city.  He  is 
met  by  a  deputation  of  elders,  the  friends  of  the  cen- 
turion, who  beg  Him  to  come  without  delay  and  heal  the 
sick  servant.  They  press  the  petition  on  the  ground  of 
the  centurion's  personal  worth  :  "  He  is  worthy,"  say  they, 
"  for  whom  we  ask  it,  for  he  loveth  our  nation,  and  hath 
built  us  a  synagogue."* 

Jesus,  although  He  needed  no  such  arguments  to  awaken 
His  interest  in  the  case,  immediately  proceeded  with  the 


*Luko  vii.  4,  5. 
21 


322  THE    LIFE    OF    CHEIST. 

messengers  towards  the  centurion's  house.  Before  He 
reached  it,  however,  He  w^as  met  by  some  of  the  centu- 
rion's friends,  who  singularly  enough,  brought  Him  this 
message  :  "  Lord,  trouble  not  thyself,  for  I  am  not  worthy 
that  Thou  shouldst  enter  under  my  roof;  wherefore 
neither  thought  I  myself  worthy  to  come  unto  Thee ;  but 
say  in  a  word,  and  my  servant  shall  be  healed.  For  I 
also  am  a  man  set  under  authority,  having  under  me  sol- 
diers;  and  I  say  unto  one.  Go,  and  he  goeth;  and  to 
anoiher,  Come,  and  he  cometh ;  and  to  my  servant,  Do 
this  and  he  doeth  it."*  The  centurion,  smitten  with  a 
sudden  sense  of  his  unworthiness,  and,  perhaps,  fearing 
the  presence  of  so  holy  a  being,  appears  to  have  reasoned 
thus  :  '•  What  need  is  there  of  His  coming  here  ?  He  can 
heal  at  a  distance  as  w^ell  as  at  hand.  I  am  imder  au- 
thority, yet  my  soldiers  and  servants  obey  me  without 
hesitation.  Jesus  is  supreme  over  all  things ;  diseases 
and  even  demons  are  subject  to  His  will.  It  is  only 
necessary  for  Him  to  issue  His  command  and  the  disease 
will  obey  Him,  and  leave  my  servant." 

The  message  in  its  spirit  of  humility,  in  the  strength 
of  the  faith  it  evinced,  in  the  conception  of  the  character 
of  Jesus  w^hich  it  indicated,  and  in  the  cogency  of  its  rea- 
soning, was  remarkable.  Jesus  Himself  marveled  at  it. 
Turning  to  those  who  folio w^ed  Him,  He  said:  "I  have  not 
found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel.  And  I  say  unto 
you  that  many  shall  come  from  the  east  and  the  west,  and 
sliall  sit  down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  but  the  children  of  the  kingdom  shall 
be  cast  into  outer  darkness ;  there  shall  be  weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth." t  In  other  words;  In  the  kingdom 
consummated, — in  its  triumphant  state,  it  is  not  sacred 
lineage  nor  ceremonial  riiiliteousness  which  will  give  ad- 


♦Lukc  vii.  G-8.  f  Matthew  viii.  10-12. 


HEALING   OF    THE    CENTUKION's    SERVANT.  323 

mission  to  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb,  to  fellowship 
with  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born — 
it  is  faith.  Hence,  for  their  unbelief,  God's  once  chosen 
people  will  find  themselves  cast  out,  w^iile  a  multitude  of 
those  despised  as  Gentiles,  will  find  full  acceptance ;  they 
will  sit  down  with  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  be 
recognized  as  the  true,  holy  seed.  Among  these,  this 
humble  centurion,  mighty  in  faith,  will  l^e  one  of  the 
greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  God." 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  the  contrast  between  the  faith 
of  this  centurion  and  that  of  the  nobleman  of  Capernaum,* 
spoken  of  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  former  is  an  exam- 
ple of  strong  faith  ;  the  latter  of  weak  faith.  The  noble- 
man is  importunate  to  have  Jesus  go  doicn  to  his  house  ; 
the  centurion  is  convinced  that  if  Jesus  will,  even  at  a 
distance,  speak  the  word,  his  servant  will  be  healed.  The 
Gentile  is  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  his  unwortlii- 
ness, — he  is  not  worthy  to  have  Jesus  come  under  his 
roof; — the  Jew  has  no  such  humility;  he  feels  no  such 
scruples.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  Jesus  rebuked 
the  one,  and  commended  the  other.  Looking  at  the  faith 
of  the  centurion,  and  our  Lord's  approval  of  it,  we  shall 
have  no  question  as  to  the  result.  The  servant  was  healed 
in  the  self-same  hour.  We  can  hardly  doubt  also  that 
both  master  and  servant  became  disciples  of  Jesus.  A 
faith  like  that  of  the  centurion,  so  vigorous  in  its  first 
growth,  could  not  but  ripen  into  full  maturity  and  j)ower. 
It  is  not  in  the  nature  of  true  faith  to  remain  stationary 
and  unfruitful. 

*See  John  iv.  46-54. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  RAISING   OF  THE  WIDOW'S  SON  AT  NAIN.* 

NAIN  —  FUNERAL   OF    THE    WIDOW'S   SON  —  JESUS    RESTORES   THE    DEAD    TO 
LIFE — NATURE    OF    THE    MIRACLE — ITS    SIGNIFICANCE. 

Os  the  north-western  slope  of  the  "  Little  Hermon,"  are 
the  ruins  of  a  town  still  called  by  the  natives  of  the  region, 
Nain.  Towards  the  west  the  ground  descends  abruptly 
to  the  fruitful  plain  of  Esdraelon ;  and  this  beauty  of 
situation  is  probal)ly  denoted  by  the  name,  which  signifies, 
'•  The  Lovely."  The  rocks  near  the  entrance  of  the  vil- 
lage are  full  of  ancient  se2)ulchral  caves.  It  is  quite  certain 
that  this  is  the  Nain  mentioned  by  the  evangelist  Luke. 
The  name  has  never  been  forgotten.  It  was  known  to  the 
crusaders,  to  Jerome  and  Eusebius,  and  to  still  more  an- 
cient writers. 

The  day  after  the  healino^  of  the  centurion's  servant, 
Jesus,  accompanied  ])y  many  of  His  disciples,  walked  from 
Capernaum  to  this  little  town  of  Nain — a  distance  of  some 
eight  or  nine  hours.  If  in  accordance  with  oriental  usage, 
He  started  early  in  the  morning.  He  must  have  reached 
Nain  at  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  route 
lay  along  the  uplands  which  overlook  the  lake  of  Tiberias 
on  the  west,  and  wound  around  the  western  slope  of 
Mount  Tabor,  leaving  Nazareth  a  few  miles  to  the  right. 
As  our  Lord  was  climlung  the  steep  ascent,  and  had  almost 

*Lukc  vii.  11-17. 


THE    RAISING    OF    THE    WIDOW's    SOX.  325 

reached  the  gate  of  the  village,  He  met  a  funeral  pro- 
cession. "  Behold,  there  was  a  dead  man  carried  out,  the 
only  son  of  his  mother,  and  she  was  a  widow."  The  cir- 
cumstances of  the  bereavement  had  awakened  a  deep  and 
general  sympathy  with  the  solitary  mourner;  and  it  is 
pleasing  to  read  that  "  much  people  of  the  city  was  with 
her." 

There  was  a  striking  contrast  between  the  two  proces- 
sions, which  thus  by  apparent  accident  encountered  each 
other.  That  which  came  from  the  city,  clad  in  habili- 
ments of  mourning,  proclaimed  the  reign  of  sin  and  death 
upon  the  earth;  that  which  approached  the  gate  pro- 
claimed the  resurrection  and  the  life.  Jesus,  always  full 
of  pity,  was  deeply  moved  by  the  sorrow  of  the  heart- 
broken widow,  and  said  to  her:  "Weep  not," — a  word 
addressed,  through  her,  to  mourners  the  world  over.  He 
was  conscious  of  that  fulness  of  life  in  his  own  person, 
which  should  abolish  death  and  sorrow,  wrest  from  the 
grave  its  captives,  and  despoil  it  of  its  victory.  So 
He  checked,  with  His  voice  of  love,  the  flowing  tears  of 
this  lonely  mourner,  and  kindled  in  her  heart  the  hope 
of  some  great  though  unknown  deliverance.  Then  He 
touched  the  open  coffin,*  and  the  majesty  of  His  person 
and  action  caused  the  bearers  to  stand  still.  "And  He 
said :  Young  man,  I  say  unto  thee.  Arise !  And  he  that 
w^as  dead  sat  up  and  began  to  speak ;  and  he  delivered 
him  to  his  mother."  The  astonishment  that  fell  on  all 
■who  witnessed  this  miracle  was  natural ;  and  their  excla- 
mations,— "  A  great  prophet  is  risen  up  among  us ! "  and, 
— "  God  hath  visited  His  people  ! "  expressed  a  rational 
conclusion  from  such  a  resplendent  proof  of  our  Lord's 
superhuman  power  and  love. 

As  this  is  the  first  instance  of  the  resurrection  of  the 

*  This  is  the  more  precise  meaning  of  tlie  word  rendered  bier. 


326  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

dead  recorded  by  the  evangelists,  it  may  well  be  the  sub- 
ject of  thoiightlul  consideration.  In  the  first  place,  then, 
^ye  assume  that  the  young  man  was  really  dead.  This 
was  no  case  of  suspended  animation.  Even  rationalistic 
critics,  and  Strauss  among  them,  have  abandoned  that  hy- 
pothesis. All  the  circumstances  of  the  case  forbid  the 
suspicion  of  mistake  or  collusion. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  the  young  man  had 
not  long  been  dead ;  as  it  was  the  custom  of  the  Jews 
to  bury  their  dead  before  the  going  down  of  the  sun,  it 
is  probable  that  but  a  few  hours  had  elapsed  since  he  had 
expired.  There  had  been  no  decay  of  the  vital  organs; 
and  the  echoes  of  life  yet  lingered  in  their  w^alls.  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that  the  separation  of  soul  and  body 
is  less  sudden,  and  for  a  time  less  complete  than  is  gen- 
erally supposed  Perhaps  the  spirit,  for  a  season,  fondly 
lingers  near  its  clay  tenement.  '*The  more  deeply  mod- 
ern science  considers,  along  with  the  undeniable  distinc- 
tion, the  intimate  connection  also  of  spirit  and  matter, 
the  less  venturous  appears  the  conjecture  that  the  spirit, 
immediately  after  death,  stands  as  yet  in  a  closer  con- 
nection with  its  scarcely  abandoned  dwelling-place  than 
many  are  disposed  to  believe.  This  appears  especially  to 
have  been  the  case  with  the  dead  persons  whom  Jesus 
raised.  Departed  in  a  time  in  which  life  and  immor- 
tality had  not  yet  been  brought  to  light,  they  could  at 
most  only  surrender  themselves  to  death  with  comjwsure, 
without  longing  after  death;  the}'-  were,  moreover,  still 
bound  to  the  earth  by  holy  Ijouds  of  blood  and  sym- 
pathy."* If  ever  a  spirit  was  bound  to  earth  by  prayers 
and  tears,  it  was  that  of  the  widow's  son.  And  it  was 
to  the  spirit  that  the  voice  of  power  was  addressed,  sum- 
moning it  back  to  its  not  yet  clay-cold  habitation.     And 

*  Van  Oostcrzee,  on  Luke  vii.  11-17. 


THE    RAISING    OF    THE    WIDOW's    SON.  327 

"there  was  still  a  thoroughly  trodden  way  between  the 
corpse  and  the  spnit  that  had  left  it."  * 

In  suggesting  this  conception  of  the  miracle,  we  would 
by  no  means  detract  from  its  greatness.  It  displayed  the 
absolute  control  of  Christ  over  all  the  powers  of  life  and 
death ;  and  it  enables  us  to  read  in  a  new  light  His  own 
words  : — "  I  am  He  that  liveth,  and  was  dead,  and  behold, 
I  am  alive  forevermore,  Amen,  and  have  the  keys  of 

HELL    AND    OF    DEATH."! 

*Lange.  t^svelation  i.  18. 


CHAPTER    III. 

MESSAGE   OF  JOILN  THE  BAPTIST  TO  JESUS. 

JOnX  IX  PRISON — HIS  EXPECTATIONS  WITH  REGARD  TO  JESUS — HIS  OC- 
CASION KOR  DOUBT — HIS  MENTAL  CONFLICTS  —  SUCH  CONFLICTS  A 
NECESSARY  DISCIPLINE — JOIIN'S  MESSAGE  A  PROOF  OF  HIS  FAITH — 
HIS  MESSAGE  DELIVERED  TO  JESUS — OUR  LORD'S  ANSWER — ITS  SIG- 
NIFICANCE— THE   BAPTIST'S   MIND   SET    AT    REST — PRACTICAL   LESSON. 

Our  Lord,  having  completed  His  instructions  to  the 
Twelve,  and  sent  them  forth  on  their  mission,  resumes  His 
teaching  and  preaching  in  the  cities  of  Galilee.  During 
this  circuit  an  incident  of  peculiar  interest  occurs. 

In  the  gloomy  frontier  fortress  of  Machaerus  beyond 
the  Jordan,  is  a  remarkable  state  prisoner  who  was  arres- 
ted many  months  ago  by  Herod  Antipas,  ostensibly  as  a 
disturber  of  the  peace,  but  really  because  he  had  the 
boldness  to  reprove  that  vicious  prince  for  the  sin  of  in- 
cest, of  which  he  was  notoriously  guilty.  This  prisoner 
was  John  the  Baptist. 

We  learn  from  Josephus  that  the  fortress  in  which  John 
was  imprisoned  was  on  a  lofty  mountain  near  the  south- 
eastern shore  of  the  Dead  Sea,  on  the  very  borders  of 
Arabia.  Almost  impregnable  by  nature,  it  had  been  mag- 
nificently fortified  by  Herod  the  Great,  and  was  in  a  con- 
dition to  defy  the  armies  of  the  world.  Connected  with 
the  fortress  was  a  splendid  palace,  where  the  voluptuous 
king  often  resided.  Here,  then,  John  the  Baptist  is  con- 
fined.    It  was  a  great  change  for  the  austere  preacher, 


MESSAGE    OF    JOHN    THE    BAPTIST    TO   JESUS.         329 

who  had  grown  up  in  the  free  air  of  the  desert,  when  he 
was  suddenly  conveyed  from  the  banks  of  the  Jordan, 
where  he  was  surrounded  with  admiring  multitudes,  to  a 
stern  and  lonely  prison.  It  was  trying  to  the  loftiest 
fortitude ;  and  though  John  finally  came  forth  from  the 
furnace  like  gold  seven  times  refined,  he  did  not  escape 
certain  agonizing  spiritual  conflicts,  which  can  best  be 
understood  by  those  who,  like  Bunyan's  Pilgrim,  have 
themselves  fought  with  Apollyon  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Shadow  of  Death.  Let  us  enter  his  cell,  and  try  to  un- 
derstand his  mental  agonies. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Baptist  expected  the  speedy 
establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  which  he  conceived 
of  as  indeed  righteous  and  holy,  yet  as  also  outward  and 
temporal.  He  looked  for  the  manifestation  and  recogni- 
tion of  Jesus  as  the  Heir  of  David.  As  he  lay  in  his 
prison,  visited  occasionally^  by  some  of  his  disciples,  he 
expected  news  that  Jesus  had  commenced  His  reign  and 
that  the  kingdom  was  restored  to  Israel.  But  this  great 
hope,  deferred  month  after  month,  made  his  heart  sick. 
Rumors  indeed  reached  him  of  our  Lord's  miracles,  but  he 
still  heard  of  Him,  not  as  reigning  at  Jerusalem,  but  as 
healing  diseases  and  teaching  among  the  poor  people  of 
Galilee.  He  must  also  have  heard  of  His  free  and  social 
manner  of  life,  so  different  from  his  own  severe  asceticism. 
Perhaps  this  excited  his  surprise,  and  first  suggested  the 
shadow  of  doubt  whether  Jesus  was,  after  all,  the  Messiah. 
We  conjecture  too,  that  many  rumors  which  reached  him 
were  not  authentic.  It  is  probable  that  the  affectionate 
jealousy  of  his  disciples  unconsciously  colored  the  facts 
which  they  reported.  As  the  weeks  and  months  wore  on, 
who  shall  say  but  the  Baptist  looked  for  some  affectionate 
and  comforting  message  from  Jesus  ?  No  message  came. 
Is  he  then  forgotten  by  that  "Lamb  of  God?"  We  can- 
not suppose  that  John's  confidence  in  Jesus  utterly  failed  ; 


330  THE    LIFE    O^    CHRIST. 

but  he  begiin  to  doubt  whether  he  hud  understood  His 
mission.  That  He  was  a  prophet  far  greater  than  himself, 
he  beheved  ;  but  was  He  the  Messiah  ? 

I  picture  to  myself  the  Baptist  sitting  in  his  cell,  after 
a  visit  from  some  of  his  disciples,  communing  with  his 
own  heart  as  follows: — "I  verily  thought  that  the  king- 
dom of  God  would  be  set  up  ere  now.  Why  this  delay  ? 
Oh,  these  Aveary,  w^eary  months  of  hope  deferred  !  When 
I  baptized  the  lowly  Nazarene  at  Bethabara,  did  not  I 
hear  a  voice  from  heaven  declare  Him  the  Son  of  God  ? 
Did  I  not  see  that  wondrous  Dove  descend  from  the  open 
heavens  and  rest  upon  Him  ?  After  such  a  consecration 
I  expected  to  see  Him  ascend  the  throne  of  David,  re- 
generate the  nation,  and  begin  to  reign  in  righteousness 
over  the  Gentiles.  But  still  He  tarries  in  Galilee,  going 
from  village  to  village,  working  many  miracles,  they  say ; 
but  why  does  He  not  announce  Himself  to  Israel  as  their 
long  expected  King  ?  What  is  this  doubt  which  pierces 
my  heart  like  a  dagger  ?  What  if,  after  all,  Jesus  is  not 
the  Messiah  ?  Perhaps  His  mission  is  also  one  of  prepara- 
tion. But  no  ; — I  heard  and  bore  witness  that  He  was  the 
Son  of  God.  But  this  tormenting  doubt  will  not  fly.  I 
must  know:  I  will  know  from  His  own  lips.  I  will  send 
my  most  trusted  disciples — who  are  more  unbelieving 
than  I  am,  and  need  comfort  like  me.  I  will  send  them 
to  Jesus,  and  ask  Him  plainly,  Art  Thou  the  Christ  or 
must  we  still  look  for  Him  ?" 

This  determination  to  send  to  Jesus  Himself,  proves  that 
Jolm  was  victorious  in  the  conflict  with  doubt.  That  he 
inquired  of  Jesus  in  this  manner  shows  his  state  of  temp- 
tation ;  that  he  inquired  of  none  but  Jesus  manifests  his 
faith  in  Him.  The  question  of  John  is  another  "  Lord,  I 
believe,  help  Thou  mine  unljelief"  His  prayer  was  an- 
swered by  our  Divine  Lord  in  the  manner  best  calculated 
to  give   permanent   peace   to  the   mind   of  the  solitary. 


MESSAGE    OF  JOHN    THE    BAPTIST    TO    JESUS.  331 

tempted  prophet.  Jesus  does  not  say  to  John's  messen- 
gers: "Yes;  I  am  the  Christ;"  but  He  gave  such  an 
answer  as  would  be  satisfactory  to  John  without  compro- 
mising Him  with  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities 
of  the  nation,  and  thus  precipitating  the  great  crisis 
which  should  put  an  end  to  His  earthly  mission.  In  the 
presence  of  John's  messengers  Jesus  wrought  many  be- 
neficent miracles,  "  healing  many  of  their  infirmities  and 
plagues,  and  of  evil  spirits,  and  giving  sight  to  many  that 
were  blind ; "  after  which  He  sent  back  the  men  to  their 
master,  saying :  "  Go  your  way  and  tell  John  what  things 
ye  have  seen  and  heard ;  how  that  the  blind  see,  the  lame 
walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are 
raised  up,  to  the  poor  the  gospel  is  preached.  And  blessed 
is  he  whosoever  shall  not  be  offended  in  me." 

Undoubtedly  our  Lord  conveyed  to  John  in  this  mes- 
sage, the  credentials  of  His  Messiahship,  The  latter  had 
formed  a  true  though  inadequate  conception  of  the  Mes- 
siah ;  he  conceived  of  Him  as  a  Redeemer,  a  Healer,  a  Com- 
forter, a  Preacher  of  glad  tidings  to  the  poor,  of  liberty 
to  the  captive,  and  healing  to  the  broken-hearted.  John's 
disciples  found  Jesus  in  the  midst  of  His  Messianic  labors, 
among  the  poor  and  suffering,  the  sinful  and  unhappy, 
bearing  their  griefs  and  carrying  their  sicknesses,  dispens- 
ing at  once,  with  divine  generosity,  temporal  and  eternal 
benefits.  They  found  Him  exercising  absolute  dominion 
over  the  powers  of  nature,  over  the  world  of  spirits,  over 
the  cold  obstruction  of  the  grave ;  and  at  the  same  time 
preaching  the  gospel  to  the  poor.  They  were  directed, 
in  words  of  blended  warning  and  benediction,  to  report 
these  things  to  their  master;  "Blessed  is  he  whosoever 
shall  not  be  offended  in  me."  We  doubt  not  that  this 
blessing  came  to  John  in  all  its  fulness. 

I  should  like  to  have  been  there  when  the  messengers 
returned.     I  should  like  to  have  looked  into  that  sad 


332  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

heroic  soul,  in  which  deep  called  unto  deep,  when  the 
blessedness  of  a  perfect  faith  stole  over  the  awful  billows 
of  doubt,  and  they  sunk  away  to  rise  no  more  forever. 
Thus,  while  standing  by  the  shore  of  the  sea  whose  waters 
were  broken  into  foam  by  a  tempest,  have  I  seen  the  sun 
break  forth  at  evening.  Instantly  the  clouds,  touched 
with  crimson  and  gold,  shriveled,  crumbled  to  pieces,  and 
melted  away ;  the  winds  piped  themselves  to  sleep ;  the 
ocean,  still  as  a  dreaming  infant,  glowed  with  gem-like 
hues  ;  and  "  peace  supreme  "  brooded  over  all.  Thus  it  is 
when  the  calm  bliss  of  perfect  faith  is  imparted  to  the 
soul  that  has  been  tossed  and  torn  by  agitating  doubt. 
Thus,  we  are  persuaded,  was  it  with  John  the  Baptist. 
The  inward  tempest  and  trial  of  his  soul,  preparatory  to 
his  approaching  martyrdom,  had  passed ;  and  a  heavenly 
tranquillity  and  glory  were  gathered  about  the  evening  of 
his  eventful  life.  What  matter  now  how  soon  the  night 
might  come ! 

Years  ago  I  saw  a  picture  in  a  foreign  land,  called  the 
"  Sleep  of  Argyle,"  one  of  the  most  touching  and  sublime 
I  ever  beheld.  The  duke,  lying  on  a  prison  pallet,  in  the 
midst  of  soldiers,  and  in  the  presence  of  his  executioner, 
who  has  come  to  lead  him  to  the  scaffold,  is  seen  sleeping 
sweetly  as  an  infant,  his  face  radiant  with  a  heavenly 
dream  and  brooded  over  by  the  peace  of  God.  Such,  T 
fancy,  was  the  repose  of  John  the  Baptist,  the  night  after 
the  message  of  Jesus  reached  him.  Such,  I  fancy,  may 
have  been  his  repose  on  the  morning  of  his  execution,  for 
liis  execution  is  at  hand.  One  sharp  and  bitter  pang 
awaits  him ;  but  that  shall  be  the  last  he  shall  ever  feel. 

It  is  no  matter  of  surprise  that  John  should  have  had 
his  season  of  fiery  trial.  The  Christian,  like  his  Divine 
Lonl.  is  to  })e  made  perfect  through  sufferings.  John's 
mission  had  been  one  calculated  to  lead  to  self-exaltation. 
It  was  necessary  that,  by  temporary  desertion,  he  should 


MESSAGE    OF   JOHN    THE    BAPTIST    TO    JESUS.  333 

be  made  sensible  of  his  weakness.  In  no  way  could  this 
be  so  effectuallj  done  as  by  leaving  his  faith  to  its  own 
strength ; — as  by  opening  beneath  his  feet  the  bottom- 
less abyss  of  doubt,  from  which  his  soul  recoiled  in  horror 
and  from  which  he  could  find  in  himself  no  deliverance. 
There  is  for  the  mature  Christian  no  more  fearful  moment 
of  trial,  than  that  in  which  his  firmest  conviction  is  shaken 
to  its  foundation,  and  he  sees  himself  sliding  into  actual 
infidelity.  Such  times  of  struggle  between  light  and 
darkness,  between  belief  and  unbelief,  had  those  giants 
in  faith,  Luther  and  Baxter  and  Bunyan,  and  only  as 
they  encountered  legions  of  doubt,  and,  in  the  name  of 
Jesus,  overcame  and  scattered  them,  were  they  perfected 
in  faith  and  patience. 

John's  temptation,  and  his  conduct  under  it,  are  not 
without  their  lesson  to  us.  If  this  stern,  incorruptible 
prophet,  with  all  the  miraculous  evidence  he  had  that 
Jesus  was  the  Christ,  was  for  a  time  staggered  with  doubt, 
need  we  be  surprised  if  we  are  sometimes  sorely  beset 
with  similar  trials?  There  will  be  times  when  the  foun- 
dations w^ill  seem  to  be  failing.  But  we  need  not  lose 
hope ;  we  have  help  near  at  hand.  We  have  only  to 
imitate  the  wisdom  of  John,  in  sending  to  Jesus  Himself 
for  a  solution  of  our  doubts ;  we  shall  have  a  speedy  and 
joyful  deliverance.  As  doubts  are  usually  due  to  our  dis- 
tance from  Jesus,  when  they  come  upon  us,  let  us  betake 
ourselves  to  Him  and  they  will  be  at  once  dispelled. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

JESUS   DISCOURSES   UPON  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST. 

FALSE  INFERENCES  OF  THE  PEOPLE  AS  TO  JOHN — JESUS  DECLARES  JOHN'S 
PRE-EMINENCE  AS  A  PROPHET — HE  AFFIRMS  THE  SUPERIORITY  OF  HIS 
FOLLOWERS  TO  JOHN — JESUS  EXPOSES  THE  TRUE  CHARACTER  OF  THE 
POPULAR  EXCITEMENT  UNDER  JOHN'S  PREACHING — HE  REBUKES  THE 
CAPTIOUSNESS  OF  THE  PEOPLE — THE  FORCE  OF  HIS  LANGUAGE — A 
GROWING   HOSTILITY   TO   JESUS    APPARENT. 

The  messengers  of  John  having  taken  their  departure, 
Jesus  addressed  Himself  to  the  multitude,  who  had  been 
close  observers  of  all  that  transpired  in  the  remarkable 
interview  just  narrated.  It  would  appear  that  some  of 
them  had  drawn  inferences  unfavorable  to  the  Baptist. 
To  them  it  seemed  that  this  man,  once  so  stern  and  in- 
flexible, had  either  become  weak  and  vacillating,  or  he 
was  beginning  to  see  himself  in  error  as  to  the  Messiah- 
ship  of  Jesus.  Such  impressions  could  not  but  react  un- 
favorably upon  our  Lord  Himself  He,  therefore,  seeks 
to  correct  their  erroneous  conclusions. 

Addressing  them  somewhat  abruptly,  He  says :  "  But 
Avliat  went  ye  out  into  the  wilderness ' to  see?  A  reed 
shaken  l)y  the  wind?"*  Such  he  now  seems  to  you, — 
weak  and  fickle  as  the  reed  that  bends  before  every 
breeze.  But  how  was  it  when  you  went  out  to  him  in 
the  desert  ?  Did  he  then  seem  so  to  you  ?  "  But  what 
went  ye  out  to  see?     A  man  clothed  in  soft  raiment? 

*  Luke  viii.  24. 


JESUS    DISCOURSES    ON    JOUN.  335 

Behold  tliey  which  are  gorgeously  apparelled,  and  live 
delicately,  are  in  king's  courts."*  Surely  you  did  not 
expect  to  see  a  luxurious  courtier  preaching  repentance 
in  the  desert.  You  found,  on  the  contrary,  a  man  clothed 
in  a  garment  of  camel's  hair,  with  a  leathern  thong  about 
his  loins ;  you  found  a  rough,  earnest  ascetic.  Think 
you  that  a  few  months  of  imprisonment  have  made  such 
a  man  effeminate  and  yielding.  "But  what  went  ye 
out  to  see  ? — a  prophet  ?  Yea,  I  say  unto  you,  and  much 
more  than  a  prophet."  John  was  more  than  an  ordinary 
prophet  of  the  former  disj^ensation ;  he  had  a  high  and 
peculiar  mission,  namely,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  mani- 
festation of  the  Messiah,  according  to  the  prediction, — 
"Behold,  I  send  my  messenger  before  my  face,  which 
shall  prepare  thy  way  before  thee."t 

Having  thus  declared  John's  superiority  as  a  prophet, 
our  Lord  proceeds,  while  reaffirming  that  superiority  in 
a  more  emphatic  manner,  to  show  the  still  higher  dig- 
nity and  privilege  of  those  who  were  His  true  followers. 
"Among  those  born  of  women,"  says  he,  "there  is  not 
a  greater  prophet  than  John  the  Baptist;" — "I  wish  you 
to  understand  that  fully,  but  still  I  would  have  you 
know  that,  notwithstanding  that," — "  He  that  is  least  in 
the  kingdom  of  God,  is  greater  than  he.''  $  These  words 
are  worthy  of  thorough  study.  Their  peculiar  signifi- 
cance may  be  seen  from  several  points  of  view. 

John  was  superior  to  all  the  prophets  of  the  old  dispen- 
sr.tioU;,  in  the  greater  clearness  of  his  views  concerning  the 
person  and  offices  of  the  Messiah  and  the  nature  of  His 
kingdom.  He  enjoyed  al-o  the  unspeakable  honor  of  see- 
ing, announcing,  and  officially,  as  His  forerunner,  of  inau- 
gurating the  Redeemer.  He  thus  occupied  an  advanced 
stand-point;  he  stood  on  the  extreme  verge  of  the  Mosaic 

*Luke  vii.  25.  tMalachi  iii.  1.  JLuke  vii.  28. 


336  THE    LIFE    OF    CHBIST. 

dispensation,  and  just  on  the  glorious  border  of  the  Mes- 
sianic kingdom.  What  more  distinguished  position,  save 
that  of  our  Lord  Himself!  And  yet,  as  still  conceiving 
of  the  Messiah  as  a  temporal  prince,  and  as  looking  for 
an  outward  theocracy,  his  views  were  narrow  and  errone- 
ous as  compared  with  those  of  the  children  of  the  king- 
dom, even  the  weakest  and  most  ignorant.  To  those  who 
are  born  of  God,  Jesus  appears  in  a  higher,  clearer  light 
as  a  spiritual  Prophet,  Priest  and  King,  of  wdiose  divine 
dignity  and  prerogatives  no  temporal  sovereignty,  how- 
ever august,  could  be  other  than  a  feeble  and  imperfect 
type.  In  this  respect,  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  greater  than  John  the  Baptist. 

Still  further,  there  is  an  implied  comj)arison  between 
John  as  one  "  born  of  women,"  and  those  who  are  "  born 
of  God."  To  this  latter  class  John  did  not  in  strictness 
of  speech  belong.  It  is  true  that  in  a  wide  and  figurative 
sense,  the  saints  of  the  old  dispensation  were,  as  having 
been  converted  by  a  special  divine  influence,  born  again. 
Yet  in  a  stricter  evangelical  sense,  those  only  are  regen- 
erated who  are  quickened  by  the  Second  Adam,  through 
the  agency  of  the  Holy  S2:>irit,  which  was  not  given  till 
after  the  ascension  of  our  Lord.  There  is  a  specialty  in 
the  new  birth  under  the  new  covenant, — a  partaking  of 
the  divine-human  life  of  the  Incarnate  Word,  which  was 
not  enjoyed  by  the  Old  Testament  saints.  The  existence 
of  such  a  superiority  was  expressly  indicated  by  John 
himself  in  the  words :  "  I  indeed  baptize  you  with  water 
\mto  repentance;  but  He  that  cometh  after  me  is  mightier 
than  1,  whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  bear;  lie  shall 
baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire."*  The 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  conditioned  upon  the  incar- 
nation of  the  Word  and  the  exaltation  of  the  Son  of  Man 

♦.^lafthc'w  iii    11. 


JESUS    DISCOUESES    ON   JOHN.  337 

to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father.  This  special  privilege 
and  glory  of  members  of  the  gospel  church,  John,  though 
the  greatest  of  prophets  born  of  women,  had  not  received. 
Hence,  in  this  respect,  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
was  greater  than  he. 

Our  Lord  now  proceeds  to  indicate  the  questionable,  or 
at  least,  insufficient  character  of  the  reformatory  move- 
ment under  John's  preaching.  "  From  the  days  of  John 
until  now,"  says  he  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth 
violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  force.  For  all  the 
prophets  and  the  law  prophesied  until  John.  And  if  ye 
will  receive  it,  this  is  Elias  wdiich  was  for  to  come.  He 
that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear."  * 

His  language  is  to  this  effect :  "  Since  John  came  preach- 
ing repentance,  you  have  been  seized  with  a  marvellous 
fervor  and  zeal ;  one  would  think  you  even  ready  to  take 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  by  violence.  But  whence  all 
this  new,  this  wonderful  interest ;  wdiat  is  its  real  value  ? 
The  prophets  and  the  law  prophesied  until  John.  The 
burden  of  their  teaching  was  this  same  repentance  and 
holiness.  If  your  interest  in  the  things  of  the  kingdom 
is  genuine,  W'hy  was  it  not  awakened  before  ?  But,  be- 
sides this,  John's  ministry  marks  the  commencement  of  a 
new  epoch, — an  epoch  especially  looked  forward  to  and 
foretold  by  the  law  and  the  prophets,  and  of  which  the 
great  feature  was  to  be  the  coming  of  the  Messiah.  John 
is  the  prophet  of  this  new  era,  the  Elias  who  was  to  come. 
As  such,  his  special  mission  is  to  preach  the  immediate 
coming  of  Christ.  You  run  wild  with  excitement  over 
John  as  the  preacher  of  repentance ;  where  is  your  in- 
terest in  John  as  the  forerunner  of  the  Messiah  ?  If  you 
were  sincere  and  consistent,  would  you  not  give  your  first 
and  chief  attention  to  Him,  the  greater,  whom  it  is  John's 


*  Matthew  xi.  12-15. 
22 


338  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

aim  to  point  out  to  you."  That  this  was  the  hidden  and 
more  profound  meaning  of  our  Lord's  words,  is  clearly 
suggested  by  His  closing  remark :  "  He  that  hath  ears  to 
hear,  let  him  hear ;"  that  is, ''  There  is  more  in  what  I  say 
than  appears  on  the  surface  ;  only  those  who  listen  atten- 
tively and  thoughtfully  will  be  able  to  get  at  its  full 
meaning." 

Jesus  now  proceeds  to  speak  more  plainly  of  another 
proof  of  the  inconsistency  of  the  people,  and  of  the  empti- 
ness of  all  their  professions.  He  refers  to  their  relative 
treatment  of  Himself  and  John  in  another  more  exclu- 
sively personal  direction.  "  Whereunto  shall  I  liken  this 
generation  ?  It  is  like  unto  children  sitting  in  the  mar- 
kets, and  calling  unto  their  fellows,  and  saying :  We  have 
piped  unto  you,  and  ye  have  not  danced ;  we  have 
mourned  unto  3'ou  and  ye  have  not  lamented.  For  John 
came  neither  eating  nor  drinking,  and  they  say,  he  hath  a 
devil :  the  Son  of  Man  came,  eating  and  drinking,  and 
they  say,  Behold  a  man  .gluttonous  and  a  wine-bibber,  a 
friend  of  publicans  and  sinners.  But  wisdom  is  justified 
of  her  children."* 

Our  Lord  here  intimates,  that  i\iQ  people  were  not 
actuated  by  a  love  for  the  truth.  If  they  were,  they 
would  not  attach  so  much  importance  to  mere  personal 
matters.  The  contrasted  austerity  of  John  and  sociality 
of  Jesus,  were  of  small  account  compared  with  the  great 
truths  of  the  kingdom,  which  they  were  alike  teaching. 
The  fact,  too,  that  they  were  thus  unlike  in  personal 
manner  *and  habit,  was  nothing  when  tlieir  doctrinal 
harmony  was  properly  taken  into  view.  But  for  these 
greater  matters  the  people  had  little  interest.  Like 
querulous  cliiidren  at  play,  they  only  sought  to  be 
amused,  and  could  not  be   satisfied  unless  every  whim 


*Mattbew  xi.  16-19. 


JESUS    DISCOURSES    ON    JOHN".  339 

was  humored.  Displeased  with  the  stern  asceticism  of 
John, — a  trait  both  natural  and  becoming  in  a  prophet 
and  reformer, — they  were  no  better  satisfied  with  the 
tender,  genial  humanity  of  Jesus,  who,  as  was  to  be  ex- 
pected of  a  Divine  Saviour,  mingled  freely  with  the  sinful, 
the  suffering,  the  lost.  Wisdom  would  be  justified  of  her 
children ;  but  evidently  this  unreasonable  Jewish  multi- 
tude did  not  belong  to  that  class. 

It  is  quite  clear  from  the  tenor  of  this  discourse,  that  a 
strong  opposition  to  our  Lord  was  already  organized  and 
led  on  by  the  very  persons  who  secretly  or  openly  opposed 
John,  and  that  the  people,  although  excited  and  curious  to 
behold  His  miracles,  were  fast  becoming  infected  with  the 
skeptical,  caviling  spirit  of  their  leaders.  We  shall  find 
this  opposition  growing  stronger  and  stronger  as  we  ap- 
proach the  later  portion  of  our  Lord's  life.  All  classes 
will  become  offended  at  Him ;  they  will  cast  out  His  name 
as  evil;  they  will  deride  His  miracles;  they  will  scoff  at 
His  preaching;  they  will  hunt  Him  from  place  to  place; 
they  will  finally  crucify  Him. 


CHAPTER    V. 

JESUS  FORGIVES  THE  WOMAN,  AT   SIMON'S  FEAST. 

OUR  LOUD's  KRKKDOM  from  TREJUDICF.  —  HE  ATTENDS  SIMON'S  FEAST  — 
A  WOMAN  BATHES  AND  ANOINTS  THE  FEET  OF  JESUS — HER  CHARAC- 
TER AND  CONDITION — SIMON  TAKES  OFFENCE — JESUS  REBUKES  HIM — 
JESUS  FORGIVES  THE  WOMAN — THE  GUESTS  CAVIL  AT  HIS  WORDS  — 
PECULIARITY  IN  OUR  LORD'S  LANGUAGE — THE  WOMAN  DEPARTS — JESUS 
CONTINUES  HIS  LABORS,  ATTENDED  BY  CERTAIN  WOMEN — OUR  LORD'S 
SPECIAL  TENDERNESS  TO  THE  FALLEN  AND  WRETCHED — EMPLOYMENT 
OF  THE  WOMEN  WHO  FOLLOWED  JESUS — THE  PROPER  SPHERE  OF  FE- 
MALE   PIETY. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  Jesus  was  entirely  free  from 
prejudice.  In  a  spirit  of  genial  humanity,  He  freely 
mingled  with  all  classes  of  society.  We  see  Him  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Gennesaret,  equally  at  home  among  farm- 
ers and  fishermen;  we  see  Him  sitting  with  the  woman  of 
Sychar  at  Jacob's  Well,  winning  her  affection  and  con- 
fidence by  words  of  matchless  condescension  and  love ; 
we  follow  Him  to  the  house  of  Matthew  and  Zaccheus, 
and  behold  Him  surrounded  with  publicans,  and  scoffed  at 
by  self-righteous  Pharisees  as  the  Friend  of  sinners ;  we 
are  iiltout  to  see  Him  dining  at  the  house  of  one  of  these 
very  Pharisees. 

At  the  conclusion  of  our  Lord's  discourse  concerning 
John  the  Baptist,  narrated  in  the  preceding  chapter,  a 
Pharisee,  named  Simon,  invited  our  Lord  to  eat  with  him. 
What  was  the  motive  which  gave  rise  to  this  invitation,  we 
are  left  to  conjecture.  Perhaps  this  Pharisee  or  some 
moiTibor  of  his  fuiiily  lirid  l)cen  healed  by  Christ,  and  he 


THE    W03IAN    AT    SIMON'S    FEAST.  341 

wished  in  this  way  to  make  some  return  for  the  benefit; 
perhaps  he  was  a  social,  hospitable  man,  who  really  was 
pleased  to  have  his  house  filled  with  company ;  or  perhaps 
he  wished  to  see  the  Nazarene  in  private,  that  he  might 
study  His  character  to  better  advantage  than  in  the  midst 
of  an  excited  multitude ;  or,  possibly,  though  it  is  hardly 
probable,  he  was  really  drawn  to  Christ  by  an  incipient 
faith  and  sympathy.  But  whatever  may  have  been  the 
motive,  the  invitation  was  given  and  accepted ;  Jesus 
"  went  into  the  Pharisee's  house  and  sat  down  to  meat."  * 
The  guests  at  this  feast  were  all  collected  at  the  table, 
not  sitting  on  chairs,  according  to  our  modern  and  acci- 
dental custom,  but  reclining  on  a  sort  of  couch  or  car- 
peted platform,  so  that  their  feet  lay  outstretched  behind 
them  during  the  meal.  How  many  guests  were  present 
on  this  occasion  the  evangelist  has  not  told  us ;  but  it  is 
altogether  probable  that  several  of  the  disciples  accom- 
panied their  Master  to  Simon's  house.  In  the  presence 
of  Jesus,  Simon  is  more  honored  than  he  knows.  He  is 
unconscious  of  the  dignity  of  his  Guest;  and  though  he 
means  to  be  courteous,  yet  in  respect  to  this  Nazarene 
Carpenter  and  His  peasant  followers,  he  seems  to  think 
some  points  of  etiquette  may  be  dropped.  No  servant, 
with  basin  and  towel,  appears  to  wash  His  feet  from  the 
sand  and  dust  of  travel,  and  His  head  is  not  anointed 
with  fragrant  oil.  Jesus  notes  the  omission,  but  no  sense 
of  wounded  dignity  lowers  upon  His  ever  placid  brow, 
or  casts  a  shadow  over  the  feast.  Suddenly  a  female  fig- 
ure glides  into  the  room.  She  parses  on  to  the  place 
where  Jesus  reclines,  and  stands  behind  Him.  As  she 
looks  down  on  that  serene  form,  her  bosom  is  shaken 
with  a  tempest  of  emotion.  She  bursts  into  tears.  Her 
tears  fall  like  rain  on  the  unsandaled  feet  before  her ;  and 

*  Luke  vii.  37. 


342  THE    LIFE    OF    CHPJST. 

those  feet  are  not  withdrawn.  She  wipes  them  with  her 
long,  disheveled  hair,  and  then  weeps  a  fresh  flood  upon 
them,  and  again  wipes  them.  Nay,  more;  with  the  aban- 
donment of  overflowing  love,  she  fervently  kisses  those 
holy  feet.  Finally  she  opens  an  alabaster  box  of  pre- 
cious ointment,  and  anoints  them.* 

And  who  is  she  ?  Simon,  the  Pharisee,  looks  at  her 
with  a  frown.  The  evangelist  tells  her  story  in  a  word. 
She  was  a  woman  of  the  city,  and  a  sinner.  What  a 
tragedy  is  contained  in  these  few  words!  Yes,  this 
woman  is  a  child  of  sin.  She  doubtless  had  a  father  and 
mother  who  watched  with  delight  and  hope  over  her 
sweet  infancy,  her  prattling  childhood,  and  maiden  beauty. 
Perhaps  she  had  brothers  who  regarded  her  with  affec- 
tionate pride,  and  sisters  who  clung  to  her  as  a  part  of 
their  own  life.  Perhaps  she  had  a  sweet  home  among 
those  hills  of  Galilee,  embowered  in  vines  and  olive 
trees, — a  home  made  sweeter  by  her  sunny  smiles  and 
maiden  fancies  overflowing  in  involuntary  songs.  She 
must  have  gathered  round  her  many  friends,  for  she  had 
a  laro-e  and  lovino;  he-art.  But  there  came  a  sad  chan":e. 
She  had  fallen, — oh,  how  low !  She  was  now  an  outcast. 
Parents,  brothers,  sisters,  friends — all  had  deserted  and 
disowned  her.  She  was  not,  it  would  seem,  in  poverty 
and  want ;  she  even  seems  to  have  had  abundance  of 
wealth  at  her  command.  But  she  was  unhappy.  Re- 
morse, shame,  memory,  like  three  vultures,  j^reyed  upon 
her  heart.  She  loathed  herself;  she  loathed  her  manner 
of  life.  Far  within  'her  bosom,  jealously  guarded  from 
human  e^'es,  was  a  fountain  of  holy  memories,  and  passion- 
ate yearnings  for  purity  and  peace.  But  she  was  hope- 
less ;  living  on,  day  after  day,  in  sullen  despair. 

*  Many  features  of  this  description  will  be  found  to  resemble  an  exquisitely 
beautiful  passage  by  Nehemiah  Adams,  D.  D.  I  read  it  years  ago;  the 
book  is  lent,  (alas  I)  and  I  cannot  refer  tlic  reader  to  chapter  and  page. 


TUE    WOMAN   AT    SIMON'^    FEAST.  343 

At  length  the  day  came  when  a  stranger  appeared  in 
the  city.  It  was  said  that  He  wrought  signs  and  wonders, 
and  spake  as  never  man  spake — that  He  even  forgave  sins. 
She  will  go  and  see  Him.  She  beholds  a  young  man  with 
a  countenance  and  bearing  of  such  blended  meekness, 
majesty,  purity  and  tenderness,  that  she  is  smitten  with 
tearful  reverence.  She  sees  His  miracles ;  she  hears  His 
wondrous  words ;  she  knows  that  this  i^  the  Son  of  God  ; 
her  pride  all  gives  way ;  her  hard  heart  breaks ;  faith  in 
Jesus  springs  up  in  her  soul,  and  peace  flows  in  like  a 
river.  She  has  found  the  Deliverer — He  is  altogether 
lovely  in  her  eyes,  and  all  the  love  of  her  deep  woman's 
heart,  purified  from  everything  earthly,  is  centered  on 
Him  forever  and  forever.  The  ice  at  her  heart  all  melts 
away ;  and  she  goes  home  as  on  wings.  But  she  can  not 
rest  there.  She  must  express  her  love.  But  how !  She 
at  length  sees  Him  go  to  the  Pharisee's  house,  and  her 
heart  yearns  to  follow  Him.  A  thought  strikes  her ;  she 
goes  to  the  perfumer's.  She  buys  his  costliest  box  of  oint- 
ment, and  hastens  away  to  the  house  of  Simon.  Trem- 
bling with  mingled  fear,  love  and  joy,  she  comes,  as  we 
have  seen,  into  the  presence  of  Jesus.  And  now,  the  odor 
of  the  outpoured  ointment  fills  the  room :  the  woman, 
who  has  not  uttered  a  single  word,  still  stands  behind  the 
Saviour,  and  He  does  not  repel  her ;  but  there  is  one  who 
looks  on  with  an  unloving  heart.  This  is  Simon  the  Phar- 
isee. He  knows  the  history  of  this  woman ;  and  he  says 
within  himself,  "This  Man  if  He  were  a  prophet  would 
have  known  who,  and  what  manner  of  woman  this  is  that 
toucheth  Him."* 

Jesus  knowing  right  well  what  His  host  w\is  saying  in 
his  heart,  and  addressing  Himself  to  his  thougliis,  said, 
"  Simon  I  have  somewhat  to  say  unto  thee."    Simon  cour- 

*  Luke  Yii.  39. 


344  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

teously  answered,  "  Master,  say  on,"  "  A  certain  creditor 
had  two  debtors ;  the  one  owed  him  five  hundred  pence 
(denarii)  and  the  other  fifty.  And  when  they  had  noth- 
ing to  pay,  he  frankly  forgave  them  both.  Tell  me,  there- 
fore, which  of  them  will  love  him  most?"* — The  Pharisee 
naturally  answered,  "I  suppose  he  to  whom  he  forgave 
most."  0  Simon,  thou  hast  condemned  thyself  Jesus 
turned  to  the  woman,  who  had  not  spoken  a  single  word 
since  she  came  into  the  room,  and  said  to  the  Pharisee, 
"  Seest  thou  this  woman  ? — I  entered  into  thy  house  and 
thou  gavest  me  no  water  for  my  feet ;  but  she  hath  washed 
my  feet  with  tears," — oh,  precious  ablution  !  "  My  head 
with  oil  thou  didst  not  anoint;  but  this  woman  hath 
anointed  my  feet  with  ointment,"! — still  more  precious 
anointing !  Simon's  cold  and  maimed  hospitality  is  here 
placed  in  vivid  contrast  wnth  the  woman's  ardent  and  gen- 
erous affection ;  and  he  was  doubtless  overwhelmed  with 
shame  if  not  with  penitence  in  the  presence  of  his  guests. 
Having  thus  rebuked  Simon,  the  proud  Pharisee,  see 
how  the  "Friend  of  sinners"  pours  the  balm  of  comfort 
into  the  wounded  heart  of  the  penitent  at  His  feet. 
'•  Wherefore  I  say  unto  thee.  Her  sins,  which  are  many, 
are  forgiven ;  for  she  loved  much ;  but  to  whom  little  is 
forgiven,  the  same  loveth  little.  And  He  said  unto  her, 
Thy  sins  are  forgiven."  Her  sins  had  been  many;  and 
they  were  such  as  society  never  forgives.  They  had  been 
lying  on  her  heart  for  years,  heavy  and  cold  as  ice.  The 
heavens  over  her  were  of  a  leaden  hue,  the  auroral  bright- 
ness, "  the  celestial  rosy-red,"  of  life's  morning  having  long 
since  faded  away.  Cold,  dark,  dreary  had  been  the  heart 
of  that  poor  sinner  ever  since  the  peace  of  innocence  had 
flown.  Now  she  hears  from  those  lips  that  speak  nothing 
but  truth,  that  her  sins  are  all  forgiven.     This  is  enough  : 

*  Luke  viL  40,  41.  t  Luke  vii.  44,  46. 


THE    WOMAN    AT    SIMON'S    FEAST.  345 

she  desires  no  more.      The  Avhole  current  of  her  Hfe  is 
turned  heavenward.     She  is  full  of  peace. 

But  there  were  some  sitting  at  the  feast,  who  could  not 
understand  this  scene ;  they  knew  not  the  divine  dignity 
of  Jesus.  "  Who  is  this,"  said  they  within  themselves, 
"that  forgive th  sins  also?"  Jesus  paid  no  further  atten- 
tion to  their  cavils  than  to  &ay  to  the  woman :  "  thy  faith 
hath  saved  thee  ;  go  in  peace."  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  in 
passing,  that  our  Lord,  in  speaking  of  the  forgiveness  of 
the  woman  to  the  Pharisee,  mentions  only  her  love;  but 
He  tells  the  woman  herself  that  her  faith  had  saved  her. 
Both  sayings  were  true.  Her  faith  was  full  of  love  ;  her 
love  was  kindled  by  faith.  The  Pharisee  was  cold  and 
unloving  in  his  heart ;  and  therefore  Jesus  admonished 
him  on  that  subject.  The  woman,  dismissed  with  such  a 
benediction,  withdrew ;  and  we  hear  no  more  of  her.  We 
may,  however,  be  quite  sure  that  her  love  to  Jesus  never 
grew  cold,  but  glowed  in  her  heart  to  its  very  last  pulsa- 
tion. Among  the  blessed  saints  in  paradise,  methinks  she 
sings  loud  and  sweet  as  any : 

Love  I  much  ?     I've  much  forgiven, 
I'm  a  miracle  of  grace. 

Having  finished  His  attendance  on  Simon's  feast,  our 
Lord  continued  His  missionary  circuit  in  Galilee,  going 
throughout  every  city  and  village,  preaching  and  sjiow- 
ing  the  glad  tidings  of  the  kingdom  of  God.*  Of  this 
circuit,  the  evangelist  notes  this  peculiarity,  that  "the 
twelve  w^ere  with  Him,  and  certain  women  which  had 
been  healed  of  evil  spirits,  Mary  called  Magdalene,  out 
of  whom  went  seven  devils,  and  Susanna,  and  many 
others,  which  ministered  unto  Him  of  their  substance."! 
These  devoted  women  seem  to  have  continued  with  Him, 

*Luke  viii.  1.  tL^l^e  viii.  2,  3. 


34G  THE    LIFE    OF    CnFJST. 

during  the  whole  remaining  portion  of  His  ministry;  and 
■we  find  them  at  last  following  Ilim  up  to  Jerusalem,  and 
standing  afar  off  while  lie  hung  upon  the  cross.  To 
them  Tie  manifested  Himself  first  after  His  resurrection. 
Some  of  them  were  evidently  persons  of  rank  and  wealth, 
who,  with  woman's  selt-sacrificing  love  and  changeless 
faith,  clunii:  to  Him  when  all  others  forsook  Him. 

From  this  portion  of  the  sacred  narrative,  it  will  be 
seen  how  justly  our  Lord  earned  the  blessed  title  given 
Him  in  scorn  by  the  contemptuous  Pharisees,  "  Friend 
of  sinners."  With  what  charitable  reticence  as  to  their 
guilt  and  degradation ;  with  what  meek  condescension 
to  their  wants  and  Avoes,  He  always  met  them!  He  did 
not  appear  to  the  lost  and  ruined  as  the  mere  revealer 
of  divine  purity  and  justice,  denouncing  their  sins,  and 
hurling  against  them  thunderbolts  of  reproof  and  threat- 
ening. This  would  have  defeated  the  very  end  He  had 
in  view.  They  would  have  fled  from  Him  as  did  Adam 
in  the  garden :  He  could  not  have  converted  them.  He 
knew  that  He  could  not  save  them,  except  as  He  drew 
them  to  His  love  and  service.  He  knew  that  love  can 
only  be  awakened  by  the  exhibition  of  a  lovable  object; 
that  men  are  constrained  almost  by  a  necessity  of  their 
nature  to  love  those  by  whom  they  are  beloved.  Hence, 
in  His  association  with  them,  love  pervaded  and  suffused 
all  His  words  and  actions.  Hence,  too,  He  came  to  them 
with  glad  tidings.  He  knew  that  despair  was  death.  His 
voice  brought  life-giving  hope.  When  He  came  to  them 
with  those  words  of  grace,  "  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that 
labor  and  are  heavy-laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest,"* 
the  weary,  sullen  despair  which  had  settled  down  upon 
their  hearts,  like  the  blackness  of  darkness,  broke  away, 
and  tlie  sunbeams  of  hope  fell  upon  the  frozen  fountains 

♦Matthew  xi.  28. 


THE   WOMAN    AT    SIMON'S    FEAST,  347 

of  their  moral  affections,  making  their  hearts  all  warm 
and  fresh  and  green  again.  Love  and  hope  are  the  two 
things  necessary  to  a  divine,  redeeming  hold  upon  the 
heart. 

While,  therefore,  the  sober  and  respectable  Pharisees  al- 
most universally  rejected  Jesus,  the  publicans  and  harlots 
received  Him  with  undissembled  joy.  They  instinctively 
recognized  Him  as  their  Friend  and  Deliverer  :  they  gath- 
ered about  Him  with  confidence  and  love.  His  meekness, 
humility,  gentleness,  humanity, — disarmed  their  pride, 
melted  their  hard  hearts  and  won  them  to  His  cause. 
Jesus  was  like  a  mighty  loadstone  to  all  burdened,  sin- 
sick  souls.  They  were  drawn  to  Him :  they  found  in  Him 
their  centre  and  their  rest.  Their  inward  yearnings  after 
peace,  pardon  and  redemption  prepared  them  to  under- 
stand His  mission ;  to  recognize  in  Him  their  Redeemer. 
Hence,  the  more  degraded  classes  were  the  most  ready 
to  believe  in  Him.  "Verily  I  say  unto  you,"  was  our 
Lord's  language  to  the  chief  priests  and  elders, — the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  higher  classes, — "the  publicans  and 
harlots  go  into  the  kingdom  of  God  before  you."* 

The  course  of  our  Lord  in  the  particular  case  recorded 
in  the  narrative  is  suggestive  of  a  special  adaptation  and 
attractiveness  in  the  religion  of  Jesus  to  fallen  and  un- 
happy woinen.  The  woman  mentioned  in  this  connec- 
tion, and  the  woman  of  Samaria,  who  appeared  earlier  in 
our  history,  were  simply  representatives  of  an  outcast  and 
wretched  class,  many  of  whom  were  doubtless  assured  of 
forgiveness  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  Himself  And  wherever 
Jesus  has  been  truly  represented,  similar  trophies  of  the 
victorious  power  of  love  have  been  laid  at  His  feet.  In 
fact,  the  gospel  has  everywhere  found  woman  degraded 
and  miserable,  and  has  made  her  pure,  free  and  happy. 

*  Matthew  xxi.  31. 


348  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

There  seems  to  be  a  susceptibility  to  religious  impression, 
a  deep  trust  and  tenderness,  a  yearning  after  purity  and 
communion  with  the  Saviour,  in  the  female  heart,  (pol- 
luted and  hardened  though  it  be  by  a  life  of  sin,)  rarely 
found  in  the  other  sex.  Let  the  poor  outcast,  at  whom  a 
selfish  world  points  the  finger  of  scorn,  only  be  made  to 
hope ;  let  her  be  assured  that  there  is  redemption  for  her ; 
let  the  Saviour  be  exhibited  to  her  as  her  friend  and  Re- 
deemer; and,  if  the  last  vestige  of  womanhood  be  not 
crushed  out  of  her  heart,  she  will  hasten  to  the  feet  of 
her  Deliverer  with  the  tears  of  penitence  and  the  fra- 
grant ointment  of  love.  Oh,  we  do  a  grievous  wrong  to 
Christ  and  His  gospel ;  we  limit  unwarrantably  the  might 
of  the  Redeemer's  love,  when  we  turn  away  with  indifier- 
ence,  discouragement  or  scorn,  from  the  poor  children  of 
sin,  for  whom  He  died  as  well  as  for  us ;  and  for  whom, 
while  living  on  earth,  He  evinced  such  divine  compassion. 
Many  such  are  without  doubt  filling  heaven  itself  with 
the  fragrance  of  their  precious  love ;  and  many  more, 
through  the  faith  and  charity  of  the  saints,  shall  be  raised 
from  ''  the  horrible  pit  and  the  miry  clay,"  to  the  same 
blessedness  and  glory. 

Of  the  precise  manner  in  which  the  women  who  fol- 
lowed our  Lord  assisted  Him,  we  know  little  beyond  the 
hint  given  as  to  their  ministering  to  Him  of  their  sub- 
stance. But  the  very  silence  of  the  evangelists  is  ex- 
pressive. No  intimation  is  given  us  that  the  women  of 
the  gospels  either  acted  as  apostles  or  teachers,  or  coldly 
ol)truded  themselves  on  public  notice,  declaiming  upon 
the  wrongs  of  their  sex,  or  delivering  harangues  on  the 
affairs  of  state.  We  do  find  them,  however,  following 
Jesus  in  His  journeys  as  His  trusted,  affectionate  friends, 
listening  to  His  gracious  words,  witnessing  His  miracles, 
ministering  to  His  temporal  wants,  providing  for  Him  of 
their  substance,  bathing  and  anointing  His  feet,  watching 


THE    WOMAN   AT    SIMON'S    FEAST.  349 

by  His  cross,  embalming  His  body,  and  worshiping  Him 
after  His  resurrection. 

From  this  we  may  learn  something  of  the  proper  sphere 
of  female  piety  in  every  age.  It  is  still  the  privilege  of 
noble-hearted,  faithful  women  to  minister  to  Christ  in  His 
members ;  still  the  body  of  Christ  is  under  their  care. 
What  they  do  to  the  least  of  His  people  or  His  suffer- 
ing ones  everywhere,  they  do  to  Him.  By  clothing  the 
naked,  feeding  the  hungry,  visiting  the  sick,  comforting 
the  broken-hearted,  sheltering  the  oppressed  fugitive,  and 
sending  the  gospel  to  the  destitute,  they  fulfill  their 
highest  mission,  and  secure  to  themselves  the  benedic- 
tion, "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  me."  *  It  is  by  such  acts  of 
love  and  mercy  that  they  pour  forth  on  the  body  of  Christ 
a  precious  ointment,  the  fragrance  of  which  not  only  fills 
earth,  but  reaches  to  heaven. 


*  Matthew  xxv.  40. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

JESUS   HEALS   A   BLIND   AND   DUMB   DEMONIAC. 

POSTURE    OF    THE    PHARISEES     TOWARDS    JESUS — JESUS    HEALS    THE    BLIND 

AND    DUMB    DEMcJxiAC — THE   BLASPHEMING  CAVIL  OP  THE  PHARISEES 

OUR  lord's  ANSWER — FORCE  OF  HIS  LANGUAGE — THE  ARGUMENTUM 
AD  HOMINEM — ARGUMENT  FROM  THE  ABSURDITY  OF  THE  THING — 
OUR  LORD  REBUKES  THE  PHARISEES — SCRIPTURE  DECLARATIONS  AS 
TO  THE  UNPARDONABLE  SIN  —  THE  EFFORT  TO  EXPLAIN  AWAY  THE 
SCRIPTURES  ON  THIS  POINT — THERE  IS  SUCH  A  SIN — ITS  GENERAL 
DIRECTION — ITS   GENERAL    NATURE — ITS  SPECIFIC  ELEMENTS — CALVIN'S 

COMMENT — ANDREW    FULLER's   VIEW  NOTHING   MYSTERIOUS    IN   THE 

UNPARDONABLE    SIN — GENERAL    SIGNS    OF    REPROBATION. 

The  ministry  of  our  Lord  had  continued,  it  is  thought, 
two  full  years  when  the  incidents  which  are  here  narrated 
occurred.  It  had  now  become  impossible  to  be  either  in- 
different or  neutral  in  respect  to  His  extraordinary  claims 
as  a  Teacher  sent  from  God.  The  Pharisees,  the  scribes, 
the  priests  and  the  rulers  had  generally  taken  ground 
against  Him ;  but  many  of  the  common  people  still  ad- 
hered to  Him,  though  the  number  of  sincere  and  en- 
lightened disciples  was  very  small.  The  Pharisees  were 
laboring  assiduously  to  fill  the  popular  mind  with  preju- 
dice and  hostility,  and  not  w^ithout  success.  On  the  other 
hand  our  Lord  was  denouncing,  with  increasing  severity, 
the  pride  and  hypocrisy  of  that  powerful  sect,  and  this 
raised  their  opposition  to  a  pitch  of  fiendish  malignity. 
They  now  dogged  His  steps  wherever  He  went ;  they  lay 
in  wait  to  catch  Him  in  His  words  ;  they  caviled  at  all  His 
discourses  ;  they  Ijlasphcmed  His  miracles.    This  has  been 


nEALlNG    OF    THE    DUMB    DEMONIAC.  351 

seen  in  their  conduct  in  relation  to  the  miracle  wrought 
upon  the  man  with  the  withered  hand. 

Not  long  after  the  touching  incident  just  narrated, 
another  miracle  was  wTought,  so  remarkable  that  the 
enemies  of  Christ,  not  being  able  to  deny  it,  and  yet  de- 
termined not  to  yield,  could  only  blaspheme.  A  certain 
demoniac  was  brought  to  Him,  who  was  blind  and  dumb. 
Whether  this  calamity  was  caused  by  his  being  possessed 
with  the  evil  spirit,  is  not  quite  certain,  though  the  form 
of  expression  used  by  Matthew  w^ould  lead  us  to  think 
so.  However  this  may  have  been,  our  Lord  healed  the 
wretched  creature,  and  he  both  spake  and  saw.  This  w^as 
evidently  regarded  by  the  people  as  a  wonderful  miracle  ; 
and  they  very  naturally  asked,  "/s  not  this  the  Son  of 
Darnel?'''*  Is  not  this  our  long-expected  Messiah ?  The 
Pharisees,  some  of  whom  had  come  down  from  Jerusalem, 
were  alarmed.  The  miracle  could  not  be  denied ;  it  was 
patent ;  every  one  might  convince  himself  by  personal  in- 
quiry of  its  reality ;  but  its  effect  on  the  multitude  must 
in  some  way  be  neutralized.  The  cure  was  real,  and  it 
was  evidently  wrought  by  supernatural  agency;  so  much 
must  be  acknowledged ;  but  did  it,  therefore,  follow  that 
it  w^as  effected  by  the  finger  of  God  ?  Might  not  Jesus 
be  in  league  with  the  kingdom  of  evil,  and  might  not  His 
miracles  be  wrought  by  the  aid  of  evil  spirits  ?  This 
was,  in  fact,  the  only  cavil  in  the  power  of  the  Pharisees 
to  offer.  "This  fellow,"  said  they,  "doth  not  cast  out 
devils  but  by  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  devils."  t 

In  reply  to  this  objection  our  Lord  addresses  them  in  a 
discourse  of  mingled  argumentation,  reproof  and  warn- 
ing. In  the  first  place.  He  refutes  the  cavil  by  argument. 
"  Every  kingdom  divided  against  itself  is  brought  to  deso- 
lation ;  and  every  city  or  house  divided  against  itself  shall 

*  Matthew  xii.  23.  t  Matthew  xii.  24. 


352  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

not  stand.  And  if  Satan  cast  out  Satan,  he  is  divided 
against  himself;  how  then  shall  his  kingdom  stand?"* 
The  point  of  the  argmnent  is  this: — Jesus  shows  them 
the  contradictory  character  of  their  accusation.  He  com- 
pares a  kingdom,  a  city,  a  family,  in  short,  any  social  union  , 
Avhatever,  with  the  kingdom  of  Satan ;  and  argues  that 
as  nothing  of  the  kind  can  maintain  its  existence  without 
a"  certain  order  and  cleaving  together  of  the  members,  so 
in  like  manner,  neither  can  the  kingdom  of  darkness. 
Or  to  adopt  the  language  of  Neander:  "It  is  a  contra- 
diction in  terms  to  suppose  that  good  can  be  directly 
wrought  by  evil ;  that  evil  should  be  conquered  b}^  evil ; 
that  one  should  be  freed /rom  the  power  of  the  evil  one, 
hy  the  power  of  the  evil  one.  Could  evil  thus  do  the 
works  of  good  it  would  be  no  more  evil."  Our  Lord  as- 
sumes that  the  tendency  of  His  miracles  was  to  over- 
throw the  kingdom  of  evil ;  that  is,  to  deliver  men  both 
from  sin  and  suffering.  If  Satan  should  have  lent  his  aid 
to  the  performance  of  such  miracles,  he  would  have  co- 
operated in  the  subversion  of  his  own  empire. 

Next  follows  an  argiimenium  ad  hominem :  "  If  I  b}^ 
Beelzebub  cast  out  devils,  by  whom  do  your  children 
cast  them  out?  Therefore  they  shall  be  your  judges."! 
There  were  among  the  Jews  themselves  professional  ex- 
orcists. "  If  such  an  accusation  as  you  bring  against  Me, 
were  brought  against  your  own  sons,  they  would  pro- 
nounce it  absurd.  Why  should  you  charge  me  with  doing 
by  the  assistance  of  Satan,  what  you  believe  thc7n  to  ac- 
complish by  divine  power?"  Thus  He  shows  them  that 
their  charge  springs  from  malice,  and  not  from  sincere 
conviction.  "But,"  He  continues,  "  if  I  cast  out  devils  by 
the  spirit  of  God,  then  the  kingdom  of  God  is  come  unto 
you."t    The  impossibility  of  expelling  evil  spirits,  except 

*  Matthew  xii.  2.'),  20.        t  Matthow  xii.  27.        $  Matthew  xii.  28. 


HEALING    OF    THE    DUMB    DEMONIAC.  353 

by  a  superior  power,  is  next  placed  in  a  strong  light  by 
the  following  illustration: — "Or  else  how  can  one  enter 
into  a  strong  man's  house  and  spoil  his  goods,  except  he 
first  hind  the  strong  man?  and  then  will  he  spoil  his 
goods."*  Satan  is  here  represented  as  keeping  the  mis- 
erable demoniac,  as  a  strong  warrior  keeps  a  fortified 
palace, — for  that  is  the  figure, — who  must  first  be  over- 
come by  a  stronger,  be  despoiled  of  his  armor  and  be 
bound,  before  his  palace  can  be  occupied  and  his  goods 
enjoyed  by  the  conqueror.  Evil  in  the  heart  of  man  is 
not  a  mere  negation, — a  mere  deficiency  of  light  and 
knowledge,  but  a  power  so  great  and  terrible  that  God 
alone  can  subdue  it.  This  closes  the  argumentative  part 
of  the  discourse.     The  Pharisees  are  answered. 

Our  Lord,  now  assuming  that  tone  of  authority  wdiich 
was  proper  to  Him,  proceeds  to  show  their  unspeakable 
guilt  in  the  utterance  of  such  blasphemies,  and  the  terri- 
ble doom  they  were  thereby  provoking.  "Wherefore  I 
say  unto  you,  all  manner  of  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be 
forgiven  unto  men;  but  the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy 
Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven  unto  men.  And  whosoever 
shall  speak  a  word  against  the  Son  of  Man  it  shall  be  for- 
given him ;  but  whosoever  shall  speak  a  word  against  the 
Holy  Ghost  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him,  neither  in  this 
world,  neither  in  the  world  to  come."t  These  awful 
words  must  not  be  lightly  passed  over.  They  are  too 
pregnant  and  momentous  to  be  dismissed  with  a  hasty 
comment. 

We  rightly  infer  from  the  words  of  Christ,  that  there  < 
is  a  sin  which  is  unpardonable, — a  sin  of  which  the  cer- 
tain, invariable  consequence  is  eternal  perdition.  This  is 
not  only  declared  with  fearful  emphasis  in  the  text ;  but 
in  many  other  passages  of  Scripture,  among  which  the 


*  Matthew  xii.  29.  t  Matthew  xii.  31,  32. 

23 


354  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

following  demand  special  notice.  In  the  address  of  Peter 
to  Simon  Magus  there  is  a  plain  allusion  to  the  unpar- 
donable sin.  "  Repent  of  this  thy  wickedness,  and  pray 
God,  if  2^€rhaps  the  thought  of  thy  heart  may  be  for- 
given thee."*  The  apostle  seems  to  have  stood  in  doubt 
whether  the  sorcerer  had  committed  this  sin  or  not.  The 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews  abounds  with  warnings  against  it. 
"It  is  impossible  for  those  who  were  once  enlightened, 
and  have  tasted  the  heavenly  gift,  and  were  made  par- 
takers of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  have  tasted  the  good  word 
of  God  and  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come ;  if  they 
shall  fall  away  to  renew  them  again  unto  repentance,  see- 
ing they  crucify  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh  and 
put  him  to  an  open  shame."  f  "  For  if  we  sin  wilfully 
after  that  we  have  received  the  knowledge  of  the  truth, 
there  remaincth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins,  but  a  certain 
fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and  fiery  indignation 
which  shall  devour  the  adversaries.  He  that  despised 
Moses'  law  died  without  mercy  under  two  or  three  wit- 
nesses; of  how  much  sorer  punishment,  suppose  ye,  shall 
he  be  thought  worthy  who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the 
Son  of  God,  and  hath  counted  the  blood  of  the  covenant 
wherewith  he  was  sanctified  an  unholy  thing,  and  hath 
done  despite  unto  the  Spirit  of  Grace."  $  St.  John  speaks 
of  the  unpardonable  sin  as  follows :  "  If  any  man  see  his 
brother  sin  a  sin  not  unto  death,  he  shall  ask,  and  he 
shall  give  him  life.  There  is  a  sin  unto  death ;  I  do  not 
say  that  he  shall  pray  for  it."§ 

^  There  are  commentators  who  attempt  to  eviscerate  such 
declarations  of  all  earnestness  and  terror,  by  softening  or 
even  reversing  the  meaning.  They  tell  us  that  when  our 
Lord  and  the  apostles  speak  of  an  imj^ossibiliiy  of  pardon 


*  Acts  viii.  22.  f  Hebrews  vi.  4,  5. 

X  Hebrews  x.  2G-29.  §  I.  John  v.  IG. 


HEALING  THE  DUMB  DEMONIAC.         oo5 

and  salvation  in  certain  cases,  they  mean  only  to  assert  a 
great  and  almost  insurmountable  difficulty.  But  the  lan- 
guage of  Christ  is  too  plain  and  unequivocal  to  render 
such  a  gloss  tolerable; — "i^  shall  not  he  forgiven  Mm, 
neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the  world  to  come;'' — or, 
as  Mark  had  it,  "  he  hath  never  forgiveness.''  Language 
could  not  be  more  definite  and  emphatic.  From  these 
passages  then  it  is  clear  that  there  is  a  sin  which  is  un- 
pardonable; not  that  either  the  power  or  mercy  of  God  is 
limited,  or  that  the  atonement  is  insufficient,  but  there  is 
a  limitation  dictated  by  sovereign  wisdom  and  righteous- 
ness. There  is  one  dread  sin  so  unspeakably  malignant, 
that  the  God  of  infinite  love  will  not  pardon  it  through  all 
the  ages  of  eternity.  There  is  o?ie  siii  which  no  blood  of 
atonement  shall  ever  wash  away,  which  no  act  of  mercy 
shall  ever  obliterate,  which  shall  be  to  the  miserable  sin- 
ner a  clinging,  eating,  blasting  curse  through  the  irre vo- 
luble cycles  of  a  lost  immortality. 

Our  Lord's  language  also  indicates  the  general  direction 
of  this  sin.  It  is  preeminently  a  sin  against  the  Holy 
Ghost.  All  sin,  indeed,  is  in  some  sense  committed  against 
all  the  persons  of  the  Holy  Trinity ;  but  as  there  are 
some  crimes  immediately  against  m,en,  so  there  are  others 
committed  immediately  against  the  Father,  others  against 
the  Son,  and  others  still  against  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
most  aggravated  sin  of  all  is  that  against  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Sins  agamst  the  Father  and  against  the  Son  may  be  for- 
given ;  but  against  the  Holy  Spirit — never. 

What,  now,  is  this  fearful  sin  ?  It  seems  clear  that  it 
does  not  consist  in  any  given  act,  but  lies  rather  in  the 
state  of  the  heart.  In  the  case  of  Simon  Magus,  the  sin 
lay  in  the  offer  to  purchase  with  money  the  power  of  im- 
parting the  Holy  Ghost;  in  the  case  of  the  persons  re- 
ferred to  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  in  apostasy  from 
the  truth ;  in  the  case  of  the  Pharisees,  it  lay  in  their  ma- 


356  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

licious  attributing  of  the  miracles  of  Jesus  to  an  unclean 
spirit.  The  Pharisees  had  seen  the  mighty  works  which 
Jesus  wrought  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  they  had 
abundant  evidence  of  the  divine  nature  of  His  miracles. 
Yet  they  deliberately,  and  out  of  mere  mahce,  charged 
Him  with  being  instigated  and  enal^led  to  do  all  this  by 
the  power  of  Satan.  It  is  true,  our  Lord  does  not  say  in 
so  many  words  that  these  blaspheming  Pharisees  had  in 
this,  committed  the  unpardonable  sin ;  but  it  is  a  necessary 
mference  from  His  discourse. 

We  may  here  then  erect  a  way-mark  ;  so  much  ground 
has  been  gained ;  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  presup- 
poses lujlit;  involves  a  persistent  opposition  of  will  to  what 
is  good  and  true  and  holy ;  and  hence  consists  in  a  mali- 
cious state  of  the  heart.  That  the  blaspheming  words  of 
the  Pharisees  were  unpardonable  only  because  they  sprung 
from  this  maliciousness  of  heart,  is  clear  from  wdiat  our 
Lord  says  in  the  same  connection.  "Either  make  the 
tree  good  and  his  fruit  good ;  or  else  make  the  tree  cor- 
rupt and  his  fruit  corrupt ;  for  the  tree  is  known  by  his 
fruit.  0,  generation  of  vipers,  how  can  ye,  being  evil, 
speak  good  things?  For  out  of  the  abundance  of  the 
heart,  the  mouth  speaketh."  * 

The  language  of  Calvin  on  this  point  is  highly  instruct- 
ive :  "  I  say  then  that  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
committed  by  those  who,  though  i\\Qy  are  so  overpowered 
by  the  light  of  divine  truth,  that  they. cannot  pretend 
ignorance,  nevertheless  resist  it  with  determined  malice, 
merely  for  the  sake  of  resisting  it.  For  Christ  in  expla- 
nation of  what  He  had  asserted,  immediately  subjoins, 
'  Whosoever  speaketh  a  word  against  the  Son  of  Man,  it 
shall  be  forgiven  him ;  but  whosoever  speaketh  a  word 
against  the   Holy   Ghost,  it   shall   not  be   forgiven  him.' 

Matthew  xii.  3R,  .34. 


HEALING  THE  DUMB  DEMONIAC.         6b7 

How  can  any  one  cast  a  reproach  on  the  Son,  that  is  not 
directed  against  the  Spirit?  Those  who  unadvisedly  oflend 
against  the  truth  of  God,  which  they  know  not,  and  who 
ignorantly  revile  Christ,  but  at  the  same  time  have  such 
a  disposition  that  they  would  not  extinguish  the  divine 
truth  if  revealed  to  them,  or  utter  an  injurious  word 
against  Him  whom  they  know  to  be  the  Lord's  Christ, — 
tliey  sin  against  the  Father  and  the  Son.  But  those  who 
are  convinced  in  their  conscience,  that  it  is  the  word  of 
God  which  they  reject  and  oppose  and  yet  continue  their 
oj)position,  they  are  said  to  blaspheme  against  the  Spirit, 
because  they  strive  against  the  illumination  which  is  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit." 

The  following  from  the  judicious  Andrew  Fuller  is  also 
in  point: — "The  peculiar  circumstances  under  which  any 
act  becomes  unpardonable,  seem  to  be,  the  party  being  pos- 
sessed of  a  certain  degree  of  light ;  and  that  not  merely 
ohjeciiveyas  exhibited  in  the  Gospel ;  but  subjective,  as  pos- 
sessed by  the  understanding.  This  light  which  is  attribu- 
ted to  the  Holy  Spirit,  seems  to  afford  the  specific  reason  of 
the  unpardonable  sin  being  committed  against  Him.  The 
distinction  our  Lord  makes  between  blasphemy  against 
the  Son  of  man  and  against  the  Holy  Spirit,  declaring  the 
one  to  be  pardonable  and  the  other  to  be  unpardonable, 
seems  to  consist  in  this :  the  former,  during  His  humilia- 
tion, might  be  the  effect  of  ignorance  and  unbelief;  but 
the  latter,  (imputing  to  Satanic  influence  those  benevo- 
lent miracles  which  were  not  only  wrought  before  their 
eyes  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  which  approved  themselves 
to  their  consciences  to  be  of  God,)  could  be  no  other  than 
wilful  malignity.  And  this  would  be  the  case  especially 
after  the  pouring  out  of  the  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost, when  such  a  blaze  of  light  shone  forth  in  confirm- 
ation of  the  Gospel;  a  blasphemous  opposition  to  it  at 
that  period  would,  when  the  light  was  not  only  exhibited 


358  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

but  possessed  by  the  understanding,  be  a  black  mark  of 
reprobation." 

To  this  ^ve  add  the  following  from  an  excellent  German 
commentator : — "  The  Redeemer  had  to  do  with  persons 
who  recognized  as  their  calling  the  occupation  with  divine 
things,  and  who  had  attained  a  certain  degree  of  internal, 
i.  e.  moral  development.  The  higher  this  was  conceived 
to  be,  the  more  perilous  became  their  position,  if  they, 
notwithstanding,  gave  themselves  up  to  sin,  A  child  is 
incapable  of  blasphemy,  because  it  has  no  knowledge 
of  God ;  hence,  it  only  talks  at  random,  or  utters  words 
void  of  sense,  because  its  internal  nature  is  incajDable  of 
comprehending  that  which  the  words  refer  to.  But  the 
Pharisees,  who  bore  within  themselves  the  knowledge  of 
divine  things,  and  who,  notwithstanding,  derided  and  blas- 
phemed the  miracles  and  teachings  of  Christ,  were  guilty 
of  the  highest  possible  wickedness."* 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that  there  is  nothing 
peculiarly  mysterious  in  the  unpardonable  sin.  All  sin 
tends  to  a  degree  of  turpitude  which  is  unpardonable. 
Every  man  who  acts  against  his  conscience ;  who  does 
violence  to  the  sacred  convictions  which  are  produced 
by  the  illuminating  power  of  the  Spirit,  is  on  the  high- 
way to  the  unspeakable  crime  which  hath  no  forgiveness. 
By  every  wilful  disregard  of  the  light  that  is  within  him  ; 
by  every  moment  of  persistency  in  the  rejection  of  known 
truth ;  by  every  act  of  resistance  to  the  conscious  claims  of 
duty  toward  God,  he  brings  himself  nearer  the  final  and 
fatal  stage  of  reprobation.  And  when  this  course  shall 
have  been  continued  until  the  heart  has  attained  a  state 
of  such  insensibility  to  the  truth,  and  malicious  opposition 
to  the  Holy  Spirit  as  its  Divine  Revealer,  that  repentance 
and  pardon  are  alike  impossible,  the  dreadful  work  will 


*  Olshausen,  in  loco. 


HEALING  OF  THE  DUMB  DEMONIAC.        359 

have  been  done.  The  unpardonable  sin  is  thus  com- 
mitted by  every  enlightened  sinner,  who  persists  in  re- 
sisting the  Holy  Spirit  until  He  takes  His  returnless  de- 
parture. Those,  then,  are  in  the  most  imminent  and  ap- 
palling danger,  who  have  enjoyed  great  light  and  have 
fallen  into  utter  impiety  and  wickedness. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  those  who  are 
sealed  over  to  reprobation  are  always,  or  indeed  com- 
monly, conscious  of  their  state.  For  the  comfort  of  ten- 
der-hearted offenders,  it  should  be  stated  that,  almost 
invariably,  a  deep  anxiety  lest  one  has  committed  the 
unpardonable  sin  is  proof  that  he  has  not :  such  an  anx- 
iety is  incompatible  with  the  state  of  heart  just  described. 
Commonly,  those  who  have  thus  sinned  are  fool-hardy, 
defiant,  scoffers  at  God  and  the  Bible  and  sacred  things. 
Kemorse  generally  does  not  begin  to  torture  the  doomed 
apostate,  until,  like  Judas,  he  is  about  to  go  to  his  own 
place.  He  is  hence  likely  to  be  the  last  man  to  feel  any 
deep  concern  as  to  his  spiritual  condition  or  jDrospects. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  MOTHER  AND   THE  BRETHREN  OF  JESUS. 

TENDENCY   AMONG     THE     DISCIPLES     TO    DEFECTION — FEELING    OF    THE   RE- 
LATIONS   OF   JESUS — MARY — HIS   "  FRIENDS  "   READY    TO   CONFINE    HIM 

AS  A  LUNATIC— THEY   WAIT    WITHOUT,  DESIRING  TO  SPEAK  WITH  HIM 

WHO    ARE    REGARDED    BY   JESUS  AS  HIS  TRUE  RELATIVES — JESUS  DINES 
WITH    A    PHARISEE— REPROVES    THE    PHARISEES    AND   LAWYERS. 

Matthew  xii.  4C-50.    Mark  iii.  31-35.    Luke  tiii.  19-21 ;  xi.  37-54. 

Jesus  has  reached  a  great  crisis  of  His  ministry.  lie  has 
broken  utterly  with  the  powerful  sect  of  Pharisees ;  He 
has  openly  denounced  and  defied  them  ;  He  has  exposed 
their  hypocrisy  and  wickedness,  and  intimated  that  their 
sin  is  too  aggravated  to  be  forgiven ;  He  has  become  the 
object  of  their  implacable  rage  and  hatred.  Their  influ- 
ence with  the  people  was  almost  unlimited ;  nay,  one  is 
tempted  to  think  that  they  were  not  without  influence  on 
the  disciples  themselves,  and  even  on  the  family  of  Christ. 
It  is  evident  that  there  was,  at  this  time,  a  strong  ten- 
dency to  doubt  and  defection  among  those  who  had  hith- 
erto faithfully  adhered  to  Him.  Ilis  own  ^'friends"  or 
relatives,  some  of  whom,  at  least,  had  professed  them- 
selves disciples,  yielded  for  a  season  to  fear  if  not  to  un- 
belief When  they  saw  Him  constantly  surrounded  with 
an  excited  multitude,  when  they  witnessed  His  incessant 
labors  which  left  Him  no  time  for  repose  or  for  taking 
necessary  food,  when  exaggerated  reports  were  brought 
to  them  of  His  dreadful  rebukes  and  denunciations  of  the 


Christ's  mother  and  brethren.  3C1 

dominant  sect,  they  began  to  fear  that  He  was  "  beside 
Himself,"  and  to  meditate  confining  Him  as  a  lunatic. 
That  Mary  was  a  party  to  this  scheme  is  incredible. 
She  doubtless  regarded  her  Son's  career,  and  especially 
the  perils  to  which  He  was  exposed,  with  all  a  mother's 
solicitude ;  but  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  countenance 
any  forcible  interference,  even  to  save  His  life.  Could 
she  forget  the  marvellous  events  which  had  occurred 
more  than  thirty  years  before  ?  No  ;  Mary  did  not  for  a 
moment  believe  that  her  Divine  Son  was  "  beside  Him- 
self," though  it  is  quite  possible  that  her  concern  for  His 
personal  safety  may  have  induced  her  to  seek  an  oppor- 
tunity for  expostulation  touching  His  excessive  and  ex- 
hausting labors. 

Perhaps  the  purpose  of  our  Lord's  friends  to  lay  hold 
upon  Him  and  remove  Him  by  force  from  the  scene  of 
His  perilous  labors,  was  not  so  unkind  as  the  words  of 
the  evangelist  might  at  first  glance  lead  us  to  suppose. 
We  know  how  Luther  was  spirited  away,  after  his  ap- 
pearance in  the  Diet  at  Worms,  to  the  secure  x^etreat  of 
the  Wartburg ;  and  something  similar  may  have  been 
meditated  by  the  brethren  of  Jesus.  They  may  have 
thought,  too,  that  Capernaum  was  no  longer  a  promising 
field  of  labor ;  and  that  the  time  had  come  for  Him  to 
seek  a  refuge  and  another  audience  in  some  other  city ; 
for  we  find  them  not  long  afterwards  advising  Him  to  go 
into  Judea  and  up  to  Jerusalem.  Whatever  may  have 
been  their  views  or  their  irutentions,  while  our  Lord  was 
talking  to  the  people,  word  was  brought  to  Him  that  His 
mother  and  His  brethren  were  standing  without,  desiring 
to  speak  with  Him.  Knowing  well  that  they  sought  to 
interfere  with  His  great  work,  He  was  undisturbed  by 
the  message,  but  said,  "Who  is  my  mother?  and  who  are 
my  brethren  ?  And  he  stretched  forth  His  hand  towards 
His  disciples,  and  said,  Behold  my  mother  and  my  breth- 


362  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

ren !  For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  Heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother,  and  sister, 
and  mother." 

These  wonderful  words  contain  abysses  of  meaning 
which  we  cannot  fathom ;  but  we  can  feel  what  we  do 
not  fully  miderstand.  We  cannot  for  a  moment  suppose 
that  Jesus  intended,  in  this  utterance,  to  renounce  nat- 
ural ties  or  disclaim  natural  affection.  He  cherished, 
even  to  the  last  pulsation  of  His  heart,  a  tender  love  to 
His  blessed  mother,  committing  her  with  his  dying  breath 
to  the  care  of  "  that  disciple  whom  He  loved."  It  is 
recorded  that,  after  His  resurrection.  He  appeared  to 
James,  one  of  His  brothers.*  Though  what  occurred 
in  that  interview  is  unknown,  we  cannot  but  regard  it  as 
a  proof  of  our  Lord's  attachment  to  one  who  had  been 
His  companion  in  the  humble  home  at  Nazareth.  That 
He  was  wanting  either  in  filial  or  fraternal  affection  can 
not  be  supposed  without  calling  in  question  His  moral 
perfection.  Indeed,  His  language  on  this  occasion  implied 
that  in  Him  those  affections  were  peculiarly  tender  and 
strong ;  otherwise,  what  force  was  there  in  the  assurance 
which  He  gave  His  discij)les,  that  He  regarded  them  with 
a  love  such  as  He  bore  to  His  brother,  sister,  and  mother? 
Doubtless  He  intended  to  say  more  than  this.  Tie  de- 
clared that  His  disciples  were  His  relatives  in  a  truer  and 
deeper  sense  than  those  who  were  such  only  after  the 
flesh ;  that  they  were  bound  to  Him  by  ties  higher  and 
more  sacred  than  those  of  coiieanguinity ;  that  they  were, 
in  short,  fellow-members  with  Him  of  a  spiritual  and  im- 
mortal family — the  household  of  a  Father  in  heaven. 

Those  who  would  discover  a  still  deeper  meaning  in 
these  words  of  Christ,  may  study  the  following  extract 
from  Stierrt — "Are  we  to  take  in  this  sense  not  merely 

*  I.  Corinthians  xv.  7.       t  Words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  vol.  2,  p.  183. 


Christ's  mother  and  brethren.  3G3 

brothers  and  sisters,  but  also  'mother,  as  it  stands  at  the  be- 
ginning, and  again  with  the  highest  emphasis  at  the  end  of 
tlie  address  ?  By  all  means.  Whosoever  receives  Christ 
has  in  heart  conceived  and  borne  Him,  is  himself  a  Mary ; 
as  also  Mary  only  thereby  became  and  continues  to  be 
His  mother.  The  congregation  of  all  the  brethren  is  col- 
lectively the  true  Mary,  a  presentiment  of  which  pro- 
found truth  forms  the  concealed  ground  of  the  Mariolatry 
of  that  church  which  exalts  itself  above  Christ." 

With  what  feelings  the  mother  and  brethren  of  Jesus 
met  the  repulse,  and  the  tacit  rebuke  which  He  gave 
them,  we  are  left  to  conjecture.  They  doubtless  retired 
to  their  own  home  wiser  than  when  they  came.  Jesus 
did  not  join  them  at  the  mid-day  meal,  but  accepted  the 
invitation  of  a  Pharisee,  whose  house  was  probably  at 
hand,  to  dine  with  him.  The  fact  that  this  hospitable  in- 
vitation came  from  a  Pharisee,  and  that  immediately  after 
the  terrible  discourse  already  considered,  is  not  a  little 
surprising.  But  it  is  evident  from  what  followed  that  the 
invitation  was  prompted  by  anything  rather  than  by  kind- 
ness. It  was  apparently  the  plan  of  these  sectaries,  now 
that  He  had  denounced  them  in  language  so  severe,  to 
provoke  Him  to  still  more  sweeping  denunciations,  in  the 
hope  that  the  rumor  already  started  by  them  that  He  was 
a  demoniac  or  a  lunatic  would  be  confirmed,  and  gain 
credence  with  the  multitude. 

Jesus  without  hesitation  entered  the  Pharisee's  house ; 
for  while  as  yet  He  feared  no  personal  violence,  it  was 
His  purpose  to  reprove,  both  by  word  and  deed,  the  super- 
stitious principles  and  customs  of  the  sect.  Accordingly 
He  at  once  sat  down  at  the  table,  without  having  ivashed 
His  hands.  As  this  was  regarded  by  the  Pharisees  as  an 
essential  religious  prerequisite  to  a  formal  meal,  the 
omission  on  the  part  of  Jesus  struck  His  host  with  aston- 
ishment which  he  took  no  trouble  to  disguise.     Doubtless 


3G4  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIKIST. 

he  "marvelled"  aloud  in  a  discourteous  manner,  "And  the 
Lord  said  unto  him,  Now  do  3'e  Pharisees  make  clean  the 
outside  of  the  cup  and  the  platter ;  but  your  inward  part 
is  full  of  raveuinii:  and  wickedness.  Ye  fools,  did  not  He 
that  made  that  which  is  w^ithout,  make  that  which  is 
within  also  ?  But  rather  give  alms  of  such  things  as  ye 
have ;  and  behold  all  things  are  clean  unto  you.  But 
woe  unto  you,  Pharisees !  for  ye  tithe  mint  and  rue  and 
all  manner  of  herbs,  and  pass  over  judgment  and  the  love 
of  God :  these  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave 
the  other  undone.  Woe  unto  you,  Pharisees  !  for  ye  love 
the  uppermost  seats  in  the  synagogues,  and  greetings  in 
the  markets.  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypo- 
crites !  for  ye  are  as  graves  which  apjDcar  not,  and  the  men 
that  walk  over  them,  are  not  aware  of  them." 

When  the  scribes  were  thus  joined  with  the  Pharisees 
in  this  rebuke,  a  member  of  that  body,  called  by  the  evan- 
gelist a  lawyer,  said  to  Jesus,  "  Master,  thus  saying  Thou 
reproachest  us  also."  Whether  this  man  really  wished  to 
be  distinguished  from  the  Pharisees,  and  exempted  from 
the  woe  pronounced  upon  them,  or  whether  it  was  his 
purpose  to  "  tempt "  our  Lord,  is  uncertain.  In  either 
case,  the  reply  which  his  remark  elicited  must  have  fallen 
upon  his  ears  like  a  clap  of  thunder: — "Woe  unto  you 
also,  ye  lawyers ;  for  ya  lade  men  with  burdens  grievous 
to  be  borne,  and  ye  yourselves  touch  not  the  burdens 
■with  one  of  your  lingers.  Woe  unto  you !  for  ye  build 
the  sepulchres  of  the  prophets,  and  your  fathers  killed 
them.  Truly  ye  bear  witness  that  ye  allow  the  deeds 
of  your  fathers  ;  for  they  indeed  killed  them,  and  ye  build 
their  sepulchres.  Therefore  also  said  the  wisdom  of  God, 
I  will  send  them  prophets  and  apostles,  and  some  of  them 
they  shall  slay  and  persecute  ;  that  the  blood  of  all  the 
prophets  which  was  shed  from  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
may  be  required  of  this  generation ;  from  the  blood  of 


cheist's  mother  axd  brethren.  365 

Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias,  which  perished  between 
the  altar  and  the  temple ;  verily  I  say  unto  you,  It  shall 
be  required  of  this  generation.  Woe  unto  you,  lawyers ! 
for  ye  have  taken  away  the  key  of  knowledge  ;  ye  en- 
tered not  in  yourselves,  and  them  that  were  entering  in 
ye  hindered." 

It  does  not  appear  that  any  of  the  disciples  were  pres- 
ent at  this  conversation.  Jesus  was  alone  among  His 
enemies,  who  attempted  to  provoke  Him  to  some  utter- 
ance which  they  might  make  the  ground  of  a  definite 
accusation.  But  their  purpose  was  thwarted  by  His  in- 
fallible insi2:ht  and  wisdom.  His  words  were  darts  which 
struck  to  the  heart  and  remained  fixed  in  the  wound. 
His  rebukes  were  written  in  lines  of  fire  on  the  flesh  of 
the  hypocrite.  Thus  a  God  alone  can  kill.  Socrates  but 
grazed  the  skin ;  Jesus  carried  fire  and  anguish  into  the 
marrow  of  the  bones.* 

*Eenan,  pngo  285. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
THE  GREAT   TEACHER. 

JESUS  GOES  TO  THE  SEA-SIDE  AND  TEACHES  THE  PEOPLE  FROM  A  SHIP — 
WHY  15Y  PARABLES — THE  CYCLE  OF  PARABLES  TOUCHING  THE  ORIGIN, 
GROWTH,    AND    CONSUMMATION    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    GOD. 

Matthew  xiii.  1-52.    Mark  iv.  1-34.    Luke  vni.  4-lS. 

Our  Lord  wasted  no  time  over  the  noonday  meal. 
Knowing  how  great  a  multitude  awaited  His  coming 
forth,  He  soon  withdraws  from  the  Pharisee's  house  and 
goes  to  the  sea-side,  where  He  enters  into  a  ship,  and  sits 
down  to  teach  the  people.  The  Sea  of  Galilee  sleeps 
under  a  cloudless  sky,  unvexed  by  the  winds  which  so 
often  lash  its  cr^^stal  waters  into  fury.  Jesus  sees  before 
Him  the  Eden-like  vale  of  Gennesaret,  with  its  smiling 
villages,  its  gardens  and  vineyards  and  olive  groves,  all 
shut  in  by  lofty  hills.  There  is  an  immense  concourse 
of  people,  who  crowd  to  the  water's  edge,  eager  to  catch 
every  look  and  word  of  the  Great  Teacher.  There  is  a 
solemn  hush  of  souls ;  all  stand  still  and  expectant,  gaz- 
ing on  tlio  saintly  form  in  the  boat.  Jesus  opens  His 
mouth  in  parables : 

"  Behold,  a  sower  went  forth  to  sow.  And  when  He 
sowed,  some  seeds  fell  hy  the  way-side,  and  the  fowls  came 
and  devoured  them  up.  Some  fell  upon  stony  places, 
where  they  had  not  much  earth ;  and  forthwith  they 
sprang  up  because  they  had  no  deepness  of  earth ;  and 
when  the  sun  was  up  thoy  were  scorched  ;  and  because 


THE    GKKAT    TEACHER.  367 

they  had  no  root,  they  withered  away.  And  some  fell 
among  thorns ;  and  the  thorns  sprang  np  and  choked 
them.  But  other  fell  on  good  ground,  and  brought  forth 
fruit,  some  an  hundred  fold,  some  sixty  fold,  some  thirty 
fold.     Who  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear." 

The  people  know  that  something  weighty  and  wonder- 
ful has  been  said ;  but  even  the  disciples  can  not  at  once 
penetrate  the  inner  meaning  of  the  parable.  We  seem 
to  see  Peter  and  Andrew,  James  and  John,  and  many 
others  in  eager  conversation,  and  we  seem  to  overhear 
the  words,  "  What  can  He  mean !  We  know  what  it  is 
to  sow :  in  yonder  field  is  a  man  even  now  scattering  the 
precious  seed ;  but  the  Master  intends  to  set  forth  some- 
thing spiritual.  Who  is  meant  by  the  sower  ?  What  is 
represented  by  the  seed?  What  by  the  different  kinds 
of  soil  ?  What  by  the  harvest  ?  We  cannot  tell  what 
He  means ;  let  us  ask  Him  in  private." 

But  the  same  thrillino;  voice  aorain  hushes  the  multi- 
tude  to  breathless  silence  : 

"The  kino-dom  of  heaven  is  likened  unto  a  man  which 
sowed  good  seed  in  his  field ;  but  while  men  slept,  his 
enemy  came  and  sowed  tares  among  the  wheat,  and  went 
his  way.  But  when  the  blade  was  sprung  up,  and  brought 
forth  fruit,  then  appeared  the  tares  also.  So  the  servants 
of  the  householder  came  and  said  unto  him.  Sir,  didst  thou 
not  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field  ?  from  whence  then  hath 
it  tares  ?  He  said  unto  them,  An  enemy  hath  done  this. 
The  servants  said  unto  him,  Wilt  thou  then  that  we  go 
and  gather  them  up  ?  But  he  said,  Nay ;  lest  while  ye 
gather  up  the  tares,  ye  root  up  also  the  wheat  with  them. 
Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest;  and  in  the 
time  of  harvest  I  will  say  to  the  reapers.  Gather  ye  to- 
gether first  the  tares,  and  bind  them  in  bundles  to  burn 
them ;  but  gather  the  wheat  into  my  barn." 

Again,  we  cannot  but  picture  to  ourselves  the  people  as 


368  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

filled  with  wonder  and  perplexity.  They  knew  the  differ- 
ence between  wheat  and  tares :  the  malicious  act  of  the 
"enemv,"  stealina:  into  his  neiii^hbor's  field  while  it  was 
yet  dark,  and  sowing  it  with  darnel,  was  one  which  they 
could  appreciate ;  the  expediency  of  letting  both  wheat 
and  darnel  grow  together  until  the  harvest  was  sufficiently 
obvious ;  but  what  it  all  meant  as  a  religious  lesson  they 
could  not  understand.  Thcv  therefore  determined  to  seek 
an  explanation  of  this  parable  also,  after  the  close  of  the 
public  discourse.  They  doubtless  saw  that  both  parables 
turned  on  something  spiritual  represented  by  the  seed, 
which  though  dry  and  lifeless  in  appearance  contained  a 
living  germ,  capable,  under  the  requisite  conditions,  of 
being  developed  into  a  fruitful  plant;  but  just  what  was 
meant  hy  the  wheat,  and  Avhat  by  the  darnel,  they  could 
only  conjecture.  Neither  was  their  curiosity  satisfied  by 
the  next  parable,  which  also  turned  on  the  growth  of 
seed : 

"  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a  man  should  cast 
seed  into  the  ground ;  and  should  sleep  and  rise  night 
and  day,  and  the  seed  should  spring  and  grow  up,  he 
knoweth  not  how.  For  the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of 
herself;  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full 
corn  in  the  ear.  But  wdien  the  fruit  is  brought  forth, 
immediately  he  putteth  in  the  sickle,  because  the  harvest 
is  come." 

The  kingdom  of  God,  then,  the  more  enlightened  hear- 
ers say  to  themselves,  is  to  grow  secretly,  silently,  grad- 
ually, from  small  beginnings. 

Again  the  Divine  Preacher  speaks : 

"The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  to  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  which  a  man  took  and  sowed  in  his  field ;  which  in- 
deed is  the  least  of  all  seeds ;  but  when  it  is  grown  it  is 
the  greatest  among  herbs,  and  bocometh  a  tree,  so  that  the 
birds  of  the  air  come  and  lodge  in  the  branches  thereof" 


THE    GREAT    TEACUER.  369 

"  Truly,"  say  the  disciples,  "  this  parable  needs  no  in- 
terpretation. Does  not  the  grain  of  mustard  seed  repre- 
sent the  present  smallness  and  feebleness  of  the  kingdom 
of  God ;  and  does  not  its  growth  into  a  spreading  tree 
signify  the  future  progress  and  final  greatness  of  that 
kinii-dom  ?" 

But  hark  again,  to  the  voice  of  the  Teacher : 

"  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  leaven,  which  a 
woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  till  the 
whole  was  leavened." 

Having  spoken  these  four  parables,  Jesus  dismissed  the 
multitude.  The  golden  light  of  an  autumnal  sunset  in- 
vested the  lake,  the  valley  and  the  mountains,  with  a 
mellow  glory ;  and  the  people,  as  they  went  to  their  own 
homes,  still  heard  the  sweet  and  solemn  tones  of  that 
divine  voice,  and  mused  on  the  wonderful  things  they  had 
heard,  Jesus  and  His  immediate  disci2:)les  retired  to  a 
neighboring  house.  As  soon  as  they  were  alone,  the  dis- 
ciples came  to  Him  and  said,  "  Why  speakest  Thou  unto 
them  in  parables?"* — a  very  natural  question.  Our 
Lord's  answer  displays  His  matchless  wisdom  as  a  Teacher : 
"  Because  it  is  given  unto  you  to  know  the  mysteries  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  to  them  it  is  not  given.  For 
whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have 
more  abundance  :  but  whosoever  hath  not,  from  him  shall 
be  taken  away  even  that  he  hath.  Therefore  speak  I  to 
them  in  parables ;  because  they,  seeing  see  not  and  hear- 
ing they  hear  not ;  neither  do  they  understand.  And  in 
them  is  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  By  hearing  ye 
shall  hear,  and  shall  not  understand ;  and  seeing  ye  shall 
see,  and  shall  not  perceive ;  for  this  people's  heart  is 
waxed  gross,  and  their  ears  are  /lull  of  hearing,  and  their 

*  That  the  disciples  sought  an  explanation  of  both  the  parables — that  of 
the  Sower  and  that  of  the  Tares — after  the  public  discourse  was  ended, 
seems  most  probable. 
24 


o/ 


0  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 


eyes  they  have  clostHl,  lest  at  any  time  they  should  see 
with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  should  un- 
derstand with  their  heart,  and  should  be  converted,  and  I 
should  heal  them." 

Thus  our  Lord  declares  the  principle  which  determined 
the  form  of  His  teaching.  Those  who  were  of  prepared 
and  susceptible  minds  should  receive  the  truth  in  plain 
and  unambiguous  language;  while  those  who  were  proud, 
ol)stinate  and  prejudiced,  should  be  plied  with  dim  hints 
and  suggestions  conveyed  in  symbols,  for  thus  even  some 
of  them  might  be  awakened  to  earnest  inquiry;  whereas, 
if  the  truth  were  declared  to  them  in  direct,  didactic  terms, 
the}-  would  at  once  and  finally  reject  it.  Blessed,  indeed, 
were  the  disciples  above  the  prophets  and  righteous  men 
of  old,  in  the  privilege  they  now  enjoyed  of  seeing  with 
their  own  eyes  the  Divine  Teacher,  and  seeking  instruc- 
tion at  His  lips.  This  j^rivilege  they  now  improved  by 
asking  an  explanation  of  the  parable  of  the  sower  of  the 
seed.  Our  Lord's  answer  is  worthy  of  careful  study ;  it 
is  one  of  the  two  interpretations  of  His  own  parables 
which  have  been  left  on  record  for  our  guidance. 

"  The  sower  soweth  the  word.  When  any  one  hearetb 
the  word  of  the  kingdom,  and  understandeth  it  not,  then 
Cometh  the  wicked  one  and  catcheth  away  that  which  was 
sown  in  his  heart.  This  is  he  which  received  seed  by  the 
way-side.  But  he  that  received  the  seed  into  stony  places, 
the  same  is  he  that  heareth  the  word,  and  anon  with  joy 
receiveth  it:  yet  hath  he  no  root  in  himself,  l)ut  dureth 
for  a  while ;  for  when  tribulation  or  persecution  ariseth 
because  of  the  word,  by  and  by  he  is  offended.  He  also 
that  received  seed  among  thorns  is  he  that  heareth  the 
word  ;  and  the  cares  of  this  world,  and  the  deceitfulness 
of  riches,  choke  the  word,  and  it  becometh  unfruitful. 
But  he  that  received  seed  into  n-ood  q>round  is  he  that 
heareth  the  word  and  understandeth  it ;  which  also  bear- 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER.  371 

eth  fruit,  and  bringeth  forth,  some  an  hundred  fold,  some 
sixty,  and  some  thirty." 

In  this  parable,  Jesus  having  spoken  of  the  word  as 
seed  and,  by  implication,  having  compared  the  human 
mind  to  soil,  divides  the  hearers  of  the  word  into  three 
classes ;  first,  the  totally  unsusceptible,  represented  by 
the  hard  and  beaten  highways  where  the  seed  does  not 
penetrate  the  earth  at  all ;  secondly,  the  partially  suscep- 
tible, represented  by  the  stony  places,  in  which  the  seed 
springs  up  quickly,  but  for  lack  of  earth  and  moisture 
withers  as  soon,  and  also  by  the  ground  overgrown  with 
thorns,  in  which  the  seed  germinates  and  takes  root  but  is 
stifled  by  the  thorns  which  spring  up  with  it;  and  thirdly, 
the  good  and  fruitful  hearers,  represented  by  the  deep, 
fertile,  and  well  cultivated  soil,  which  brings  forth  in  due 
season  an  abundant  harvest.* 

Milton  has  said  that  books  are  not  absolutely  dead 
things  but  have  a  power  and  progeny  of  life  in  them. 
Much  more  truly  may  this  be  said  of  the  word  of  God, 
which  is  living  and  powerful,  and  is  the  instrument  by 
which  dead  souls  are  new-begotten  by  the  will  of  God. 
But  the  word  must  first  gain  an  entrance ;  it  must  pene- 
trate the  understanding  and  the  heart;  it  must  be  hon- 
estly received  by  attentive  hearing  and  sincere  belief;  it 
must  be  remembered  and  pondered  and  applied  to  prac- 
tice. When  it  thus  falls  into  good  ground  it  will  produce 
a  plentiful  harvest. 

Having  thus  expounded  the  parable,  Jesus  reminded 
the  disciples  that  they  were  thus  enlightened  that  they 
might  give  light  to  others :  "  Is  a  candle  brought  to 
be  put  under  a  bushel,  or  under  a  bed,  and  not  on  a  can- 
dlestick ?  For  there  is  nothing  hid  which  shall  not  be 
manifested ;    neither   was  anything   kept    secret    but   it 

*Neander's  "Life  of  Christ,"  pp.  188,  189. 


372  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

should  come  abroad.  If  any  man  have  ears  to  hear,  let 
him  hear.  Take  heed  what  ye  hear ;  Avith  what  measure 
ye  mete  it  shall  be  measured  to  you ;  and  unto  you  that 
hear  shall  more  be  given.  For  he  that  hath,  to  him  shall 
be  given ;  and  he  that  hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken 
even  that  which  he  hath." 

The  disciples  were  encouraged  by  these  words  to  ask 
an  explanation  of  the  parable  of  the  tares  of  the  field. 
Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them  :  "  He  that  soweth  the 
good  seed  is  the  Son  of  Man ;  the  field  is  the  world ;  the 
good  seed  are  the  children  of  the  kingdom ;  but  the  tares 
are  the  children  of  the  devil ;  the  harvest  is  the  end  of 
the  world,  and  the  reapers  are  the  angels.  As  therefore 
the  tares  are  gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire,  so  shall  it 
be  in  the  end  of  this  world.  The  Son  of  Man  shall  send 
forth  Ilis  angels,  and  shall  gather  out  of  His  kingdom  all 
things  that  offend,  and  them  which  do  iniquity,  and  shall 
cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire ;  there  shall  be  weeping 
and  (»:nashino:  of  teeth.  Then  shall  the  righteous  shine 
forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father.  Who 
hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear." 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  this  parable,  the  good  seed,  the 
word  of  God,  has  become  regenerate  persons ;  and  on  the 
contrary,  the  evil  seed,  which  must  mean  error  or  false- 
hood, appears  as  the  children  of  the  iricked  one.  These  two 
classes  represent  the  principles  which  have  moulded  their 
respective  characters.  "  The  new  man,"  says  Luther,  "  is, 
as  it  were,  nothing  but  the  "Word  of  God."  So  the  chil- 
dren of  the  devil  are  nothing  but  a  lie — a  living  denial 
of  God's  truth. 

Our  Lord's  doctrine  of  the  last  things  as  here  declared, 
is  as  full  and  clear  as  that  which  was  set  forth  in  His  later 
discourses.  That  good  and  evil,  truth  and  falsehood,  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked,  should  be  interniiugled  in  Ilis 
kingdom   till  the   time   of  His   second   coming,  and  the 


THE    GREAT    TEACHER.  373 

end  of  this  world,  is  plainly  foretold.  And  this  prophetic 
utterance  stands  as  a  rebuke  and  warning  against  all  who, 
under  pretence  of  purifying  the  church,  arrogate  to  them- 
selves judicial  functions,  and  anticipate  the  unerring  dis- 
crimination which,  at  the  last  day,  shall  be  made  between 
the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  "  Let  both  grow  together 
until  the  harvest,"  is  a  maxim  which  must  be  applied  with 
signal  caution ;  but  it  is  one  of  incalculable  importance. 

Jesus  having  thus  answered  the  questions  of  the  dis- 
ciples, added  the  following  brief  but  striking  parables 
which  were  so  plain  that  they  needed  no  explanation : 

"Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  treasure 
hid  in  a  field ;  the  which  when  a  man  hath  found,  he 
hideth,  and  for  joy  thereof  goeth  and  selleth  all  that  he 
hath  and  buyeth  that  field. 

"Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  merchant- 
man seeking  goodly  pearls ;  who,  when  he  had  found  one 
pearl  of  great  price,  went  and  sold  all  that  he  had,  and 
bought  it. 

"Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  net,  which 
was  cast  into  the  sea  and  gathered  of  every  kind  ;  which, 
when  it  was  full,  they  drew  to  shore,  and  sat  down,  and 
gathered  the  good  into  vessels,  but  cast  the  bad  away. 
So  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the  world ;  the  angels  shall 
come  forth,  and  sever  the  wicked  from  among  the  just, 
and  shall  cast  them  into  the  furnace  of  fire  ;  there  shall 
be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth." 

Thus  closed  this  wonderful  discourse.  Anxious  to  re- 
move all  doubt  and  obscurity  from  the  minds  of  the  dis- 
ciples. He  said  to  them,  "  Have  ye  understood  all  these 
things?"  They  replied,  "Yea,  Lord.  Then  said  He  unto 
them,  Therefore  every  scribe  which  is  instructed  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  a  house- 
holder, which  bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things 
new  and  old." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

JESUS  STILLS  THE  TEMPEST  AND  HEALS  THE  DEMONIAC. 

JESUS  AND  THE  DISCIPLES  CROSS  THE  LAKE — HE  SLEEPS  AND  THE  TEM- 
PEST RISES — THE  DISCIPLES  CALL  TO  HIM  FOR  HELP — HE  STILLS  TUB 
TEMPEST — JESUS  LANDS  AND  MEETS  A  DEMONIAC — HIS  FEARFUL  CON- 
DITION— JESUS  ORDERS  THE  DEMON  TO  COME  OUT  OF  THE  MAN — THE 
DEMONIAC  IS  RESTORED  TO  HIS  RIGHT  MIND — THE  GADARENES  AND 
THEIR  REQUEST — JESUS  DISMISSES  THE  DEMONIAC  TO  HIS  HOME — HE 
PUBLISHES  THE  MIRACLE  ABROAD — THE  MIRACLE  MORE  EASILY  RIDI- 
CULED THAN  DISPROVED — THIS,  AND  OUR  LORD's  OTHER  MIGHTY 
WORKS,    DEMONSTRATE    HIS    UNIVERSAL    DOMINION. 

When  the  day  was  well  nigh  spent,  our  Lord  directed 
His  disciples  to  pass  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  lake. 
After  they  had  dismissed  the  multitude,  they  launched 
out  in  the  ship  from  which  the  Saviour  had  preached,  foh 
lowed  by  several  other  little  boats.  Exhausted  by  the 
labors  of  the  day,  our  Lord  retired  to  the  stern  of  the 
boat  to  catch  a  few  moments  of  rest  during  the  passage 
to  the  opposite  shore,  some  five  or  six  miles  distant.  We 
can  almost  see  Him  there, "  asleep  on  a  pillow,"  while  the 
little  vessel  glides  over  the  glassy  waters.  How  different 
from  the  sleep  of  Jonah !  He  slept  in  mere  apathy,  his 
conscience  paralyzed  by  sin.  The  sleep  of  Jesus  is  sinless 
and  heavenly.  But  while  there  is  the  j)cace  of  God  brood- 
ing over  that  Sleeper,  there  is  elemental  strife  in  the  natu- 
ral world.  A  tempest  suddenly  rushes  dowTi  through  the 
deep  gorges  of  the  hills  which  wall  in  the  lake,  and  in  a 
moment  the  waters  are  lashed  into  fury;  the  waves  break 
in  foam  over  the  little  boat,  which  seems  about  to  be  swal- 


THE  TEMPEST   STILLED  :    THE   DEMONIAC   HEALED.    375 

lowed  up.  The  disciijles,  though  accustomed  to  the  sudden 
storms  for  which  this  lake  has  ever  been  noted,  are  in  the 
utmost  alarm ;  for  it  seems  impossible  for  their  little  craft 
to  live  through  the  gale.  They  hope  every  moment  that 
their  Master  will  awake ;  but  no ;  amidst  the  crash  and 
tumult  of  the  tempest  He  sleeps  on, "calm  and  unappalled 
in  sinless  peace."  At  last,  when  the  danger  waxes  iunni- 
nent,  and  there  seems  but  a  step  between  them  and  death, 
they  run  to  Him  in  haste  and  terror,  crying:  "Master, 
Master,  Carest  thcu  not  that  we  perish."* 

Calmly  He  rises  from  His  pillow,  looks  out  upon  the 
raging  sea,  and  says :  "  Peace,  be  still."  Will  the  winds 
and  waves  obey  Him  ?  They  have  already  obeyed.  In 
a  moment  the  howling  winds  are  ^till,  the  mad,  leaping 
waves  crouch  under  the  word  of  powder,  and  disappear ; 
and  the  lake  lies  there  in  the  purple  evening,  like  a  sea 
of  glass  mingled  with  fire.  For  there  was  a  '■great  cahn." 
Having  thus  restored  the  elements  to  peace,  our  Lord 
turns  to  His  disciples,  and  reproves  them  for  their  want 
of  faith:  "Where  is  your  faith?"  Their  faith  had  proved 
in  this  trial  like  "  a  w^eapon  which  a  soldier  has,  but  yet 
has  mislaid  and  can  not  lay  hold  of  in  the  moment  of  ex- 
tremest  need.  What  He  rebuked  was,  not  their  appeal 
to  Him  for  help,  but  the  excess  of  their  terror  in  counting 
it  possible  for  the  ship  which  bore  their  Lord  to  perish ! "  f 

It  ought  to  be  noted,  in  passing,  that  the  words  "  Peace, 
be  still,"  can  not  be  regarded  as  a  mere  rhetorical  figure, 
addressed  to  the  unconscious  elements ;  but  there  is  rather 
a  distinct  recognition  of  Satan  and  the  powers  of  evil,  as 
the  authors  of  the  discord  in  the  outward  world ;  a  tracing 
up  of  all  these  disorders  to  their  source  in  the  Potentate 
of  Evil,  that  old  serpent,  the  Devil.  The  manner  of  the 
disciples  is  clearly  indicative  of  this  j  for  they  appear  from 

*Mark  iv.  38.  f  Trench. 


376  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

their  language  to  have  been  especially  affected  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  Jesus  as  He  issued  the  sublime  conunand. 
There  was  probably  in  His  look  an  appearance  of  pene- 
trating into  the  invisible ;  and  in  His  manner,  the  in- 
dications of  a  profound  consciousness  of  the  immediate 
presence  of  a  powerful  personality,  malignantly  disposed 
to  rebel  against  His  connnands.  No  wonder,  then,  that 
the  men  who  were  in  the  boat  ^^ feared  exceedingly,  and 
said,  one  to  another,  What  manner  of  man  is  this,  that 
even  the  winds  and  the  sea  obey  Him."* 

The  vessel  had  now  reached  the  eastern  shore,  not  far 
from  the  city  of  Gadara,  which  gives  its  name  to  the  sur- 
rounding region.  Hardly  had  Jesus  landed,  when  a  wild 
and  hau'ii:ard  form  was  seen  runninoi:  towards  Him.  The 
man,  if  such  a  creature  can  be  called  a  man,  was  entirely 
destitute  of  clothing ;  his  hair  and  beard  were  matted  and 
filthy,  his  flesh  was  covered  with  wounds  and  scars,  his 
eyes  red  and  glaring,  and  his  whole  appearance  that  of  a 
hopeless,  raving  maniac.  And  such,  indeed,  he  was.  He 
had  long  been  the  terror  of  the  neighborhood  ;  for  he  had 
forsaken  the  habitations  of  the  living  and  taken  up  his 
dwelling  in  a  cemetery  hard  by,  where  he  might  be  heard 
among  the  tombs,  night  and  day,  shrieking  and  moaning, 
meanwhile  giving  vent  to  his  misery  by  cutting  himself 
with  stones  and  in  other  ways  lacerating  his  flesh.  His 
friends  had  often  tried  to  confine  him,  but  even  chains 
and  fetters  had  proved  as  wisps  of  straw  to  his  super- 
human strength.  Few  were  bold  enough  to  pass  by  the 
cemetery  where  he  dwelt;  his  horrible  cries  made  the 
blood  curdle ;  and  when  his  madness  was  at  its  height,  it 
was  dangerous  to  come  into  the  vicinity. 

Tliis  miserable  creature  was  no  common  maniac.  He 
belonged  to  that  unhajDpy  class,  so  numerous  in  that  age, 

♦Mark  iv.  41. 


THE   TEMPEST   STILLED:    THE   DEMONIAC   HEALED.   377 

called  demoniacs ;  lie  had  long  been  under  the  despotic 
power  of  evil  spirits ;  his  reason  was  dethroned,  his  will 
directed  by  an  irresistible  agency  not  his  own ;  his  self- 
consciousness  had  been  partially  blotted  out,  or  at  least, 
disturbed,  so  that  he  seemed  to  himself  to  have  many 
personalities ;  and  his  animal  life  was  in  some  mysterious 
manner  blended  with  the  foul  life  of  unclean  demons. 

Yet  his  self-consciousness  often  revived ;  he  sometimes 
felt  his  utter  ruin  and  misery,  and  longed  for  deliverance. 
At  one  of  these  lucid  moments  seeing  Jesus  stepping  out 
of  the  boat,  he  at  once  recognized  Him,  by  that  strange 
clairvoyant  power  which  these  beings  generally  possessed, 
as  the  Son  of  God.  He  was  smitten  with  awe,  and  per- 
haps at  that  moment  a  gleam  of  hope  broke  upon  his  dark 
mind.  Something,  it  may  be,  wdiispered  to  his  soul  "  the 
Deliverer  has  come;" — for  he  did  not  run jfrom  the  Sav- 
iour but  towards  Him.  And  wdien  he  came  nigh  he  woi^- 
shiped  Him.  This,  I  suppose,  was  the  demoniac's  own  act 
It  was  at  this  moment,  probably,  that  our  Lord,  seeing  the 
wretched  creature  at  Plis  feet,  said  to  the  demon,  "  Come 
out  of  the  man,  thou  unclean  spirit."  But  the  spirit  did 
not  immediately  obey ; — perhaps  a  sudden  and  violent  ex- 
pulsion would  have  been  dangerous  to  the  poor  victim, — 
but  answered,  "  I  adjure  thee  by  God  that  thou  torment 
me  not."  "  What  is  thy  name  ?  "  "  My  name  is  Legion, 
for  we  are  many." 

The  demons,  finding  that  their  ejection  was  inevitable, 
dreading  to  be  thrust  into  the  abyss,  their  own  proper 
world,  and  yearning  after  a  corporeal  life  how^ever  gross, 
besought  the  Saviour  to  permit  them  to  enter  into  a  herd 
of  swine,  which  happened  to  be  feeding  on  the  plain. 
Jesus,  willing  to  give  the  demoniac  a  sensible  evidence 
of  his  complete  and  permanent  cure,  and  intending  per- 
haps at  once  to  punish  the  evil  spirits  and  the  owners  of 
the  swine,  who  kept  them  contrary  to  the  law,  gave  the 


3/8  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

desired  permission.  The  unclean  spirits  then  went  out 
of  the  man  and  entered  into  the  herd  of  swine.  The 
eflect  was  instantaneous.  The  brutes,  affrighted  by  new 
and  terrible  sensations  breaking  down  into  their  low,  dim 
circle  of  animal  consciousness,  scoured  madlj  over  the 
plain  and  rushed  down  a  precipice  into  the  lake,  where 
they  all,  to  the  number  of  two  thousand,  perished  in  the 
waters.  That  the  demons  foresaw  this  result  is  not  at  all 
probable ;  but  we  rather  believe  that  the  granting  of  their 
request  was  the  very  means  of  bringing  upon  them  the 
thing  they  dreaded,  namely,  banishment  into  the  abyss. 
There  doubtless  they  are  kept,  under  chains  of  darkness, 
imto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day. 

But  how  does  it  fare  all  this  time  with  the  demoniac  ? 
lie  is  a  demoniac  no  longer.  In  his  soul,  so  long  vexed 
with  dire  tempests,  there  is  a  great  calm.  He  has  come 
to  himself.  The  light  of  reason  beams  once  more  in  his 
eyes.  He  seems  to  have  immediately  sought  for  clothing 
wherewith  to  cover  his  nakedness.  And  now,  clothed 
and  in  his  right  mind,  where,  think  you,  did  he  sit  down  ? 
Where  but  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  ?  He  seems  to  have  said 
little ;  but  his  looks  were  doubtless  eloquent.  What  a 
steadfast  gaze,  he  fastened  on  his  Deliverer !  What  tears 
of  love  and  gratitude  bedewed  his  cheeks?  How  he  hung 
upon  the  lips  of  the  Saviour!  The  healing  power  had 
penetrated  his  inmost  soul ;  he  was  delivered  from  the 
tyranny  and  madness  of  sin;  the  peace  of  forgiveness  en- 
tered dove-like  into  his  conscience  there  to  abide  forever. 

But  he  did  not  long  enjoy  the  blessedness  of  sitting  at 
his  Deliverer's  feet ;  a  multitude  of  people,  drawn  by  the 
report  of  the  swine-herds,  flocked  out  of  the  city  and  the 
neighboring  country,  to  the  place.  When  they  saw  the 
demoniac,  whom  they  had  all  known,  sitting  at  the  feet 
of  Jesus,  decently  clothed  and  in  his  right  mind,  they 
were    not    grateful   for   the    salvation    thus    brought   to 


THE  TEMPEST  STILLED  :    THE  DEMONIAC  HEALED.    379 

their  suffering  neighbor, — no,  they  were  afraid  for  them- 
selves and  their  selfish  interests.  The  2:)resence  of  such  a 
Being  as  Jesus  was  terrible :  they  shrank  from  God  man- 
ifest in  the  flesh.  They  feared  also,  that  the  destruction 
of  the  swine  was  the  precursor  of  other  losses.  So  they 
prayed  our  Lord  to  dejoart  out  of  their  coasts.  Such 
'prayer  He  is  wont  to  answer.  He  immediately  returned 
to  the  ship. 

As  He  was  about  to  step  on  board,  the  man  who  had 
been  healed,  prompted  by  love  and,  it  may  be,  by  the  fear 
of  a  relapse  into  his  fearful  malady,  begged  the  privi- 
lege of  being  allowed  to  follow  his  Benefactor.  But  no ; 
Jesus  has  work  for  him  to  do ;  and  work  is  what  the  man 
needs  to  perpetuate  his  cure.  "  Return  to  thine  own 
house  and  to  thy  friends,  and  tell  them  how  great  things 
the  Lord  hath  done  for  thee,  and  hath  had  compassion 
on  thee."*  The  man  had,  then,  a  home  and  friends. 
During  all  the  time  of  his  madness,  a  father  and  mother, 
wife  and  children,  may  have  been  mourning  for  him  as 
worse  than  dead.  And  yet  if  ever  he  visited  that  home, 
all  fled  from  him  in  terror.  But  all  this  is  past.  Not  so 
do  they  now  receive  him.  When  they  see  him  coming, 
not  naked,  filthy,  bleeding  and  with  maniac  bowlings; 
but  clothed  and  cleanly,  with  reason  once  more  speaking 
in  every  look  and  action,  and  with  words  of  love  and 
greeting  upon  his  lips,  what  surprise  and  gladness  filled 
their  hearts ;  and  as  he  recounts  what  Jesus  has  done  for 
him,  there  is  not  only  gladness  but  gratitude  in  that  house. 

And  not  only  there.  There  was  wonder  throughout  the 
whole  region,  as  he  published  everywhere  the  mighty 
miracle  which  he  had  experienced.  We  can  not  doubt 
that  that  miracle  was  his  great  theme  ever  after.  He 
never  forgot  it  till  his  heart  stopped  beating ;  nay,  he  did 

*Luke  viil.  39.     Mark  v.  19. 


380  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

not  forget  it  then;  he  has  not  forgotten  it  yet.  It  is  per- 
hajDs  now  his  most  blessed  employment  to  recount  to 
eveiy  new-comer  in  heaven  what  great  things  the  Lord 
did  for  him,  that  memorable  evening  on  the  Gadarene 
shore. 

This  particular  miracle  has  been  seized  upon  by  infi- 
dels as  especially  vulnerable.  It  has  been  made  the  ob- 
ject of  unsparing  ridicule.  That  there  should  be  such  a 
thing  as  demoniacal  possession ;  that  men  should  be  dis- 
possessed by  the  word  of  Jesus ;  that  the  devils  should 
be  sent  into  the  herd  of  swine; — all  this  is  treated  as 
matter  of  endless  mirth.  It  is  the  natural  result  of  a  dis- 
belief in  the  supernatural.  The  moment  the  existence 
of  the  supernatural  is  granted,  while  all  these  facts  may 
continue  inexplicable,  they  are  no  longer  incredible  ;  nay, 
they  are  the  more  credible  because  inexplicable.  Now, 
this  disbelief  in  the  supernatural  is  not  the  normal  condi- 
tion of  the  human  mind.  It  is  the  simple  growth  of  that 
modern  infidelity,  from  which  the  world  is  just  awak- 
ing as  from  a  nightmare  dream.  All  history  and  all  ob- 
servation show  that  a  belief  in  the  existence  and  influ- 
ence of  the  supernatural  bears  every  mark  of  being  a 
universal, — we  had  almost  said  a  necessary, — instinct  in 
the  human  mind.  It  is  then  for  the  infidel,  not  to  scout 
its  attendant  facts,  but  dispassionately  and  conclusively 
to  prove  the  fallacy  of  the  universal  instinct.  Yet  this 
is  not  a  thing  easy  to  be  done.  How  is  the  skeptic  to 
prove  that  supernatural  beings  have  no  power  over  men, 
or  even  over  brutes  ?  The  most  that  he  can  do  is  to  pro- 
test Ills  mahlllty  to  see  how  it  can  he.  But  this  is  no 
proof;  or  if  it  be,  it  Avill  disprove  a  hundred  things  which 
the  skeptic  himself  fully  accepts  as  facts. 

Passing  from  this,  however,  and  looking  back  on  the 
miracle  as  such,  one  reflection  can  not  but  strike  every 
candid  mind  with  great  force.     How  absolute  is  the  power 


THE  TEMPEST  STILLED  :    THE  DEMONIAC  HEALED.    381 

and  how  vast  the  dominion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ! 
We  have  seen  that  the  material  elements  were  subject  to 
His  will :  the  winds  and  the  seas  obeyed  Him  :  the  brute 
creation  recognized  His  authority :  infirmity  and  disease 
were  subject  to  His  command :  now,  even  the  spirits  or 
powers  of  the  supernatural  world  own  His  supremacy. 
Well  considered,  all  this  appears  a  demonstration  that, 
though  we  see  Jesus  passing  from  place  to  place  as  a  man 
among  men ;  subject  to  weariness,  hunger,  and  other  siur 
less  weaknesses  of  human  nature,  yet  He  is  absolute  Lord 
of  the  universe:  He  is  the  word  of  god,  by  whom  all 
things  were  made,  and  who  upholds  all  things  by  the  word 
of  His  power. 

Especially  interesting  is  the  thought,  that,  varied  and 
vast  as  is  this  sovereign  authority  of  Jesus,  it  is  His  great 
mission  as  Redeemer  to'  exercise  it  in  the  behalf  of  sin- 
sick,  suffering  humanity.  So  while  on  earth  did  He  ex- 
ercise it.  When  He  turned  the  water  into  wine  ;  when 
He  gathered  the  fishes  into  the  net  of  the  disciples ;  when 
He  fed  the  famished  multitude ;  when  He  restored  the 
impotent  man ;  when  He  hushed  the  tempest ;  when  He 
gave  sight  to  the  blind ;  when  He  cleansed  the  leper ; 
when  He  cast  out  evil  spirits ;  when  He  snatched  the 
dying  from  the  grasp  of  death ;  when  He  burst  open  the 
portals  of  the  tomb,  and  brought  back  the  much  lamented 
object  of  affection  to  the  embraces  of  weeping  friends  ; — 
all  was  for  man's  relief  and  blessing.  And  benign  and 
wonderful  as  was  this  gracious  exercise  of  His  sovereignty, 
it  was  all  only  the  foreshadowing  of  the  higher  manifesta- 
tion of  His  eternal  power  and  God-head,  in  saving  His 
people  from  their  sins.  He  who  had  this  power  over  all 
things,  has  also  power  to  forgive  sins;  to  save  to  the 
uttermost  those  that  are  lost. 


CHAPTER    X. 

JESUS   AT   iMATTHEW'S   FEAST. 

TESUS  RETURNS  TO  CAPERXAUM  —  HE  IS  FAVORABLY  RECEIVED  BY  THE 
MULTITUDE — HE  IS  IXVIIED  BY  MATTHEW  TO  A  FEAST — HE  ATTENDS 
IT — THE  PHARISEES  TAKE  OFFENCE — OUK  LORD'S  DEFENCE — JOHN'S 
DISCIPLES    QUESTION    HIM    ABOUT   FASTING. 

Having  met  with  so  unfavorable  a  reception  among 
the  Gadarenes,  as  to  render  the  further  prosecution  of 
His  work  among  them  difficult  if  not  impracticable,  our 
Lord,  as  we  have  seen,  withdrew  from  their  territory,  and 
returned  across  the  lake  towards  Capernaum.  When  He 
reached  the  shore  He  found  the  multitude  awaiting;  Him. 
They  had  seen  Him  cross  over  the  lake  not  many  hours 
before;  and  it  would  seem,  expecting  His  speedy  return, 
had  not  3^et  left  the  place  at  wdiich  He  had  embarked. 
As  He  landed,  a  very  different  reception  was  given  Him, 
from  that  met  with  among  the  Gadarene  swine-dealers. 
The  people  received  Him  gladly.  Some  doubtless  were 
waiting  in  expectation  of  being  healed.  Others,  though 
we  can  hardlj-  tliiiik  their  number  was  large,  may  have 
gained  some  glimpses  of  His  true  character,  and  were 
drawn  to  Him  by  secret  love  and  confidence.  The  greater 
portion  were,  however,  actuated  by  mere  curiosity  to  be- 
liold  His  miracles.  Possibly  this  feeling  had  received  a 
new  stimulus  from  the  reports  of  the  wonderful  events 
whicli  had  taken  place,  on  tlie  opposite  shore  of  the  lake, 
and  which  had  been  brought  thence  by  some  who  had 


JESUS    AT    MATTHEW'S    FEAST.  383 

been  in  the  "little  boats"  that  had  accompanied  the  one 
that  carried  Jesus  thither.  Attended  by  the  multitude 
He  returned  to  Capernaum,  thus  completing  His  fourth 
circuit  in  Galilee. 

Soon  after  His  return,  Levi,  who  had  been  called  a 
short  time  before,  gave  a  feast  to  Jesus  in  his  own  house, 
to  which  he  invited  a  great  company  of  publicans  and 
others.  He  was  probably  actuated  by  a  desire  to  do 
honor  to  his  new  Master ;  perhaps,  also,  he  sought  to 
give  Him  a  favorable  opportunity  of  preaching  to  others 
of  his  own  despised  class.  The  occasion  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  no  inconsiderable  importance,  and  would 
seem  to  indicate  the  host  to  have  been  a  man  of  no  in- 
ferior rank.  Into  the  festivities  of  the  occasion,  our  Lord 
appears  to  have  entered  with  His  accustomed  condescen- 
sion and  cordiality.  He  doubtless  fully  appreciated  the 
friendly  designs  of  His  new  disciple.  Possibly,  also,  it 
was  His  purpose  to  show  the  proud  and  exclusive  Phari- 
sees that  He  was  no  respecter  of  persons,  and  that  He 
looked  upon  their  high  claim  to  superior  sanctity  and 
privilege,  with  displeasure. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  the  members  of  this  ar- 
rogant sect  were  greatly  incensed  at  the  whole  proceed- 
ing. At  the  first  opportunity  they  broke  out  in  open 
complaint  and  censure.  "Why,"  said  they  to  His  dis- 
ciples, (they  were,  as  yet,  too  much  in  fear  of  Jesus  to 
rebuke  Him  directly) ;  "  Why  do  ye  eat  and  drink  with 
publicans  and  sinners  ? "  *  This  was  to  say,  "  Why  does 
your  Master,  who  claims  to  be  so  holy,  defile  Himself 
by  associating  with  these  outcasts  ?  Why,  if  He  is  the 
Messiah,  the  King  of  Israel,  does  He  thus  countenance 
and  honor  the  hirelings  of  this  tyrannical  heathen  gov- 
ernment, that  domineers  over  us  the  chosen  people." 

*Luke  V.  30. 


384  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

Understanding  the  question  to  be, — as  it  was, — a  virtual 
attack  upon  Himself,  our  Lord  met  it  promptly  and  fear- 
lessly, '•  They  that  are  whole,"  said  He,  "  need  not  a  phy- 
sician ;  but  they  that  are  sick.  I  came  not  to  call  the 
righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance."*  "You,  who  pride 
yourselves  upon  being  teachers  in  Israel,"  said  He, "  show 
yourselves  utterly  ignorant  both  of  the  great  objects  of 
religion,  and  of  the  predicted  character  and  mission  of 
the  Messiah.  Your  cold-blooded  self-righteousness  has 
blinded  you  to  all  the  benign  and  merciful  intentions  and 
plans  of  God  with  reference  to  His  lost  and  ruined  crea- 
tures. If  you  need  no  physician,  no  salvation,  why  can 
you  not  be  content  that  hope  and  helj)  should  be  brought 
within  reach  of  those  who,  according  to  your  own  admis- 
sion, are  so  needy,  the  more  especially  as  it  neither  de- 
tracts from  your  advantages  nor  draws  upon  your  pity  or 
effort?" 

Soon  after  this  feast,  which  may  have  led  to  the  occur- 
rence, some  disciples  of  John  the  Baptist  came  to  Jesus 
and  said,  "  Why  do  we  and  the  Pharisees  fast  oft,  but  thy 
disciples  fast  not?"t  The  question  indicates  that  they 
had  already  passed  into  a  narrow  and  rigid  formalism. 
Indeed,  the  very  fact  that  they  still  called  themselves 
John's  disciples,  keeping  aloof  from  Jesus,  was  a  proof 
that  they  were  incapable  of  entering  into  the  free  king- 
dom of  (lod.  "  We  and  the  Pharisees'''  was  a  sectarian 
})liias('.  which  no  true  disciple  of  Christ  could  have  uttered. 
Our  Lord,  however,  deals  with  these  narrow-minded  ques- 
tioners very  gently,  not  reproving  them  for  their  illiberal 
prejudice  and  unl)elief,  but  endeavoring  to  raise  them  up 
to  a  higher  plane  of  thought  and  experience  :  "  Can  the 
cliildrcu  of  the  bride-clinmber  fast,  while  the  bridegroom 


*  Luke  V.  31 ,  32. 

fM.itthcw  ix.  14-17.     M:.rk  ii.  18-23.     Luke  v.  33-39. 


JESUS  AT  Matthew's  feast.  385 

is  with  them  ?  As  long  as  they  have  the  bridegroom  with 
them,  they  can  not  fast.  But  the  dnys  will  come  when 
the  bridegroom  shall  be  taken  away  from  them,  and  then 
shall  they  fast  in  those  days."  We  can  not  but  conjecture 
that  these  disciples  of  John  were  among  those  who  heard 
the  last  testimony  of  their  now  imprisoned  master.  "  He 
that  hath  the  bride  is  the  bridegroom ;  but  the  friend  of 
the  bridegroom,  which  >standeth  and  heareth  him,  rejoiceth 
greatly  because  of  the  bridegroom's  voice :  this  my  joy 
therefore  is  fulfilled."*'  Jesus  plainly  refers  to  these 
words  of  His  forerunner ;  He  says,  in  effect,  "  Did  you 
not  hear  your  master  declare  that  I  am  the  Bridegroom  ? 
How  can  my  friends,  those  who  have  the  care  of  the  bride- 
chamber,  mourn  while  I  am  with  them  ?  After  my  de- 
parture they  will  indeed  mourn,  and  then  they  will  natu- 
rally fast.  But  now,  fasting  would  evince  a  lack  of  loving 
joy  in  my  personal  presence."  Fasting,  then,  should  not 
be  a  matter  of  law  and  ceremony,  but  should  express  real 
grief  for  the  absence  of  the  Divine  Bridegroom,  and  long- 
ing for  His  return.  In  these  days,  while  the  Bride  is 
piercing  the  heavens  with  the  cry,  "  Come,  Lord  Jesus, 
come  quickly ! "  the  children  of  the  bride-chamber  may 
well  fast. 

Our  Lord,  continuing  His  discourse,  next  shows  that  set 
and  frequent  fasting  by  His  disciples  would,  at  that  time, 
be  incongruous  with  the  new  dispensation  which  He  came 
to  introduce.  "  No  man  also  seweth  a  piece  of  new  cloth 
on  an  old  garment ;  else  the  new  piece  that  filled  it  up 
taketh  away  from  the  old,  and  the  rent  is  made  worse. 
And  no  man  putteth  new  wine  into  old  bottles ;  else  the 
iiew  wine  doth  burst  the  bottles,  and  the  wine  is  spilled, 
and  the  bottles  will  be  marred ;  but  new  wine  must  be 
put  into  new  bottles  and  both  are  preserved."     The  old 


*John  iii.  29. 
25 


386  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

covenant,  with  its  institutions  and  forms,  was  like  an  old 
garment,  not  to  be  mended,  but  laid  aside.  Or  it  was 
like  a  well  worn  leathern  bottle  which  can  not  resist  the 
expansive  action  of  new  fermenting  wine.  The  new 
wine  of  Christ  shatters  the  old  ceremonialism,  refuses  to 
be  contained  in  the  ancient  forms,  requires  fresh  and  ap- 
propriate rites  and  ordinances,  and  demands  a  free,  regen- 
erate, living  church  in  which  to  mature,  by  ceaseless 
energy,  its  heavenly  virtue. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

JESUS  RAISES  THE  DAUGHTER  OF  JAIRUS. 

JAIRUS  COMES  TO  JESUS — HIS  PETITION — THE  WOMAN  WITH  THE  ISSUE 
OF  BLOOD — JAIRUS  APPRISED  OF  HIS  DAUGHTER'S  DEATH — JESUS  PRO- 
CEEDS TO  HIS  HOUSE — EXCLUDING  THE  MULTITUDE,  HE  ENTERS  THE 
DEATH-CHAMBER — HE  RESTORES  THE  DAMSEL  TO  LIFE — HE  WITHDRAWS 
FROM  THE  HOUSE — TWO  BLIND  MEN  FOLLOW  HIM  TO  HIS  ABODE — HE 
HEALS  TIIEM — THEY  SPREAD  ABROAD  THE  STORY  OF  THEIR  CURE — HE 
HEALS    THE    BLIND   AND    DUMB    DEMONIAC. 

While  our  Lord  was  thus  conversing  with  the  disciples 
of  John,  a  man,  evidently  of  rank,  was  seen  hastily  making 
his  way  through  the  crowd,  with  every  mark  of  extreme 
agitation  and  concern  on  his  face.  He  was  recognized  by 
the  multitude  as  Jairus,  a  ruler  of  the  synagogue, — proba- 
bly of  that  at  Capernaum.  They  respectfully  made  room 
for  him  to  approach  Jesus.  Whatever  may  have  been  his 
previous  bearing  toward  Jesus, — for  they  must  have  met 
before, — there  was  in  it  now  nothing  of  haughty  distance 
and  reserve.  All  his  pride  was  merged  in  one  great  sor- 
row. Having  at  length  reached  our  Lord's  presence,  he 
forgot  his  rank  and  dignity,  and  fell  down  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus,  saying;  "My  daughter  is  even  now  dead;  but  come 
and  lay  thy  hands  on  her  and  she  shall  live."*  His  peti- 
tion was  one  calculated  to  awaken  the  liveliest  sympathy. 
This  daughter  was  twelve  years  old ;  she  was  just  bud- 
ding into  womanhood,  and  was  withal  an  only  child,  the 

*  Matthew  ix.  18. 


388  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

light  of  the  household.  How  desolate  will  that  dwelling 
be  without  her  joyous  presence;  how  wearily  will  the 
father's  life  wear  on  when  this  idol  of  his  heart  is  gone ! 
What  were  the  feelings  of  Jesus,  may  be  inferred  from 
His  action.  He  did  not  hesitate  a  moment :  He  went 
with  the  ruler  immediately:  The  thronging  multitude 
followed. 

While  He  was  on  the  way,  an  interesting  occurrence 
took  place,  which  is  circumstantially  narrated  by  three 
of  the  evangelists.  Let  us  observe  the  crowd.  It  is  an 
irre-j-ulptr  procession  of  great  extent,  composed  of  young 
and  old,  rich  and  poor,  male  and  female, — all  pressing 
toward  Jesus  the  central  figure,  trying  to  catch  every 
glance  of  His  eye  and  every  word  He  utters.  One  figure 
particularly  attracts  our  attention.  It  is  that  of  a  closely 
veiled  female,  exceedingly  thin  and  emaciated,  but  stead- 
ily making  her  way  through  the  crowd,  evidently  with  the 
fixed  purpose  of  getting  near  the  Saviour,  though  mov- 
ing quietly  as  if  anxious  not  to  attract  the  notice  of  the 
multitude.  Who  this  woman  is,  we  do  not  know;  her 
name  is  not  given.  Something  of  her  history,  however, 
we  have.  She  has  been  now  for  these  twelve  years  an 
invalid.  During  this  period  she  has  spent  all  her  property 
on  physicians  without  deriving  the  least  benefit  from  their 
prescriptions.  She  is  now,  not  only  prostrated  by  chronic 
disease,  but  she  is  also  poor. 

In  her  extremity  this  woman  resorts  to  Jesus.  She  has 
faith  that  He  can  heal  her ;  it  would  seem  faith  of  peculiar 
definiteness  and  strength.  She  has  somehow  formed  a 
peculiar  conception  of  Christ's  healing  powers.  She  be- 
lieves that  His  very  body  is  a  reservoir  of  health,  so  that 
it  is  only  necessary  to  touch  it  in  order  to  be  healed :  nay, 
she  needs  but  touch  His  garment,  which  she  regards  as  a 
conductor  of  the  holy  virtue  of  His  person,  and  she  will 
be  made  whole.     Yet  reserved  and  timid,  she  resolves  to 


EAISING    OF  JAIRUS'   DAUGHTER.  389 

do  tliis  by  stealth,  and  so,  as  it  were  by  chance,  she  ap- 
proaches His  person,  and  touches  the  hem  or  fringe  of 
His  robe.  Immediately  a  sensation  of  sudden  but  perfect 
health  shoots  through  her  body;  it  pervades  every  feeling. 
How  her  heart  must  have  throbbed  with  sudden  joy,  as 
"she  felt  in  her  body  that  she  was  made  whole  of  that 
plague."  * 

The  woman  said  not  a  word.  In  her  ignorance  she 
probably  thought  that  Jesus  Himself  did  not  know  the 
miracle  which  this  stolen  touch  had  effected.  But  she 
was  soon  undeceived.  Jesus  knew  that  healing  power 
had  gone  out  of  Him  ;  and  He  knew  whither  it  had  gone  ; 
for  He  did  not  work  miracles  unconsciously.  He,  how- 
ever, chose  for  the  spiritual  benefit  of  the  woman  to  lead 
her  to  a  voluntary  public  acknowledgment  of  the  cure. 
He,  therefore,  turned  Himself  about,  and  said :  "  Who 
touched  Me?"t  The  question  called  forth  a  general 
denial  from  those  near  Him.  Observing  that  his  Master 
still  looked  incredulous,  Peter,  who  already  began  to  act 
as  spokesman  for  his  fellow-disciples,  replied  almost  in  a 
tone  of  reproof:  "Master,  the  multitude  throng  Thee,  and 
press  Thee,  and  sayest  Thou,  Who  touched  Me  ?"t  Jesus 
said  to  Him :  "  Somebody  hath  touched  Me," — not  acci- 
dentally, but  with  a  purpose, — "for  I  perceive  that  vir- 
tue (power)  hath  gone  out  of  Me."§  At  these  words, 
the  woman  seeing  that  her  purpose  and  her  cure  were 
known,  felt  all  further  attempts  at  concealment  to  be 
vain.  "She  came  trembling,  and  falling  down  at  His 
feet,  she  declared  unto  Him  before  all  the  people  for  what 
cause  she  had  touched  Him,  and  how  she  had  been  healed 
immediately."  ||  His  purpose  was  accomplished ;  the  open 
avowal   of   her   faith    and  of  its    results   was  obtained. 


*Mark  V.  29.  fLulie  viii  45.  $Luke  viii.  45. 

§  Luke  viii.  46.  ||  Luke  viii.  47. 


390  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

"  Daughter,"  said  Jesus,  in  tones  of  tenderness  and  en- 
couragement, "  be  of  good  comfort ;  thy  faith  hath  made 
thee  whole  ;  go  in  peace."  * 

We  return  now  to  Jairus.  It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine 
his  feelings  at  this  delay.  He  had  left  his  daughter  lying 
at  the  point  of  death ;  every  moment  must  have  seemed  to 
him  an  age.  "  Perhaps  at  this  very  instant,"  he  thought, 
"  my  darling  child  may  be  breathing  her  last ;  nay,  she 
may  even  now  be  a  lifeless  corpse."  This  agony  of  sus- 
pense was,  however,  soon  ended ;  for,  while  Jesus  was  yet 
speaking  to  the  woman,  messengers  came  with  the  sad 
news  that  the  child  was  dead.  "  Why  troublest  thou  the 
Master  any  further  ? "  f  said  they,  as  if  now  even  Jesus 
Himself  could  do  nothing  for  him.  The  unhappy  father, 
smitten  as  with  a  thunderbolt,  was  speechless.  Our  Lord, 
knowing  that  his  heart  was  sinking  within  him,  reassured 
him  with  a  word  of  hope  ;  "  Be  not  afraid,  only  believe."  | 

As  they  approached  the  ruler's  house,  Jesus,  putting 
back  the  multitude  and  even  most  of  His  disciples,  suffered 
only  Peter,  James  and  John  to  enter  the  house  with  Him. 
Thus  were  these  three  apostles  first  singled  out  as  enjoy- 
ing the  special  confidence  of  their  Master,  and  chosen  to 
be  witnesses  of  His  most  select  and  wonderful  miracles. 
On  entering  the  house.  His  ears  were  stunned  with  the 
horrible  din  of  an  oriental  mourning.  The  minstrels  and 
hired  mourners  were  already  there,  and  the  house  was 
full  of  tumult  and  wailing.  Accosting  the  noisy  con- 
course, our  Lord  said  to  them :  "  Wh}^  make  ye  this  ado 
and  weep  ?     The  damsel  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth."  § 

*Lukc  viii.  48.  According  to  Eusobius,  an  early  historian  of  the  church, 
this  miracle  was  commemorated  by  a  bronze  statue  in  Crcsarea  Paneas,  rcp- 
resentinj^  a  woman  touching  the  hem  of  the  Saviour's  garment. 

t  Mark  V.  35. 

t  Mark  V.  3G. 

§  Mark  V.  39. 


RAISING   OF  JAIRUS'   DAUGHTER.  391 

These  words  appeared  so  absurd  to  those  present,  that 
even  in  the  midst  of  the  wailing  they  laughed  Jesus  to 
scorn.  The  damsel  sleeping  ?  She  was  dead  !  they  knew 
it  to  be  so.  That  was  precisely  the  testimony  that  He 
desired  to  elicit;  for  we  must  not  understand  Him  as 
affirming  absolutely  that  the  maid  was  merely  sleeping, 
as  denying  that  she  was  dead ;  but  rather  as  intimating 
that,  with  her,  death  was  but  a  brief  sleep  out  of  which 
she  was  soon  to  awake.  It  will  be  remembered  that  on 
another  similar  occasion,  when  the  subject  of  His  restor- 
ing power  was  actually  dead  and  buried.  He  said  in  like 
manner:  "Our  friend  Lazarus  sleepeth,  but  I  go  that  I 
may  awake  him  out  of  sleep."  *  His  reasoning  was  then 
clear  enough,  but  for  the  fact  that  unbelief  had  blinded 
His  hearers  to  the  divine  character  in  which  He  spoke, 
and  to  the  miracle  He  was  about  to  perform. 

Treating  their  scornful  unbelief  with  deserved  severity, 
Jesus  at  once  put  the  noisy  multitude  out  of  the  house,  as 
altogether  unfit  witnesses  of  the  approaching  stupendous 
manifestation  of  the  Godhead  within  Him.  Taking  with 
Him  only  the  three  disciples  just  named  and  the  parents 
of  the  child,  in  the  now  perfect  hush  of  the  household  He 
enters  the  chamber  of  death.  They  gather  about  the 
couch,  and  stand  solemn  and  expectant,  gazing  upon  the 
cold  yet  beautiful  form  before  them.  Two  souls,  believing 
and  hoping,  stand  like  funeral  tapers  beside  the  couch, — 
the  father  and  the  mother :  His  church  the  Lord  sees  rep- 
resented in  His  three  most  trusted  apostles.  All  things 
being  now  ready,  Jesus  takes  the  damsel  by  the  hand,  say- 
ing :  "  Maid,  arise ! "  How  divinely  simple  and  calm  yet 
confident,  the  act  and  word !  How  instantaneous  and 
wonderful  the  effect!  The  touch  and  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  of  Life  vivify  the  marble  form ;  the  departed  spirit, 

*  John  xi.  11. 


392  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

■summoned  back  by  Him  who  holds  the  kej'S  of  Hades 
and  of  Death,  returns  to  its  habitation ;  the  heart  throbs 
anew ;  the  ruddy  current  of  life  once  more  rushes  through 
ihe  pale  limbs,  and  flushes  like  an  aurora  the  lovely  face ; 
the  lungs  heave ;  the  eyes  open,  no  longer  glassy  but 
beaming  with  life  and  soul ;  the  maiden  starts  up  on  her 
couch,  and  looks  around  her : — she  lives.  What  are  the 
emotions  of  that  father  and  mother?  No  wonder  that 
all  other  thoughts  are  swallowed  up  in  astonishment, 
and  that  Jesus  finds  it  necessary  to  order  food  for  the 
resuscitated  child.  Having  for  reasons,  which  have  been 
suggested  in  connection  with  preceding  portions  of  the 
narrative,  charged  those  who  had  been  witnesses  of 
the  miracle  to  keep  it  secret,  our  Lord  left  the  house. 
What  happy  hearts  He  left  behind  Him  we  can  easily 
imagine.  What  their  communings  were  respecting  their 
Benefactor,  we  know  not.  We  can  not,  however,  help 
feeling  that  they  were  of  a  most  tender  and  grateful 
character. 

As  Jesus  was  returnino;  from  the  house  of  Jairus,  He 
was  followed  by  two  blind  men  who  seem  to  have  been 
waiting  for  Him  in  the  highway.  They  had  probably 
lost  their  sight  by  that  terrible  opthalmia  which  to  this 
day  prevails  so  extensively  in  the  East.  Their  condition 
was  pitiable  in  the  extreme ;  for  there  is  no  bodily  afflic- 
tion so  terrible  as  blindness.  This  is  especially  true  of 
those  who  are  dependent  on  their  labor  for  their  daily 
bread.  Blindness  in  such  cases  is  heggary.  Thus  it 
prolxibly  was  with  the  Ijlind  men  who  followed  Jesus. 
Having  heard  of  the  wonderful  cures  wrought  by  our 
Lord,  the  hope  had  sprung  up  in  their  breasts  that  He 
would  restore  them.  Urged  on  by  this  hope,  they  had 
persuaded  some  benevolent  person  to  lead  them  to  some 
place  by  which  Jesus  was  to  pass.  As  soon  as  they  knew 
He  was  at  hand,  they  cried  out  to  Him :  "  Thou  Son  of 


RAISING    OF   JAIRUS'   DAUGHTER.  393 

Davicl,  have  mercy  on  us."  *  It  is  probable  that  they  in- 
tended by  this  mode  of  address,  to  acknowledge  Jesus  as 
the  Messiah.  This  would  naturally  follow  from  their  cir- 
cumstances. Their  afiliction  had  made  them  humble  and 
teachable ;  it  had  taught  them,  also,  that  their  only  help 
was  in  Jesus.  Susceptible  and  believing  as  they  were, 
they  would  be  among  the  first  to  acknowledge  the  Naz- 
arene  carpenter  as  the  long-expected  Heir  of  David. 

Our  Lord,  probably  with  a  view  of  testing  their  faith, 
appeared  at  first  to  take  no  notice  of  them.  And  so 
they  followed  Him,  either  led  by  some  one  who  had  pity 
on  their  helplessness,  or  else  feeling  their  way  hesitatingly 
along  the  street, — all  the  while,  in  their  determination  to 
be  heard,  repeating  the  cry :  "  Thou  Son  of  David,  have 
mercy  on  us  ! "  At  length,  having  followed  Jesus  to  the 
house  wherein  He  then  abode, — probably  the  house  of 
Matthew  the  publican, — they  succeeded  in  reaching  His 
presence.  "  Believe  ye,"  said  He,  "  that  I  am  able  to  do 
this?  They  said  unto  Him,  Yea,  Lord.  Then  touched 
He  their  eyes,  saying,  According  to  your  faith,  be  it  unto 
you."  t  Their  faith  had  been  too  well  tested  to  leave  the 
result  in  doubt.  Lnmediately,  to  their  unspeakable  joy, 
their  eyes  were  opened.  No  sooner  had  they  opened  their 
eyes  and  looked  upon  their  but  just  now  unseen  Bene- 
factor, than  He  charged  them  to  let  no  man  know  it.  It 
would  have  been  well  for  them  to  have  obeyed  the  in- 
junction to  the  letter,  since  to  obey  is  better  than  sacri- 
fice. But,  overwhelmed  as  they  were  with  wonder  and 
gratitude,  they  seem  to  have  found  that  impossible.  They 
spread  abroad  the  fame  of  Jesus  throughout  the  land. 
Nor  do  we  find  that  their  grateful  loquacity  was  imputed 
to  them  for  sin,  by  Him  who,  knowing  what  was  in  man's 
heart,  knew  full  well  their  feelings  and  their  motives. 


*  Matthew  xix.  27.  t  Matthew  ix.  28,  29. 


39:1:  THE    LIFE    OF    CnRIST. 

The  words  "which  our  Lord  employed  in  ^Yorking  the 
cure  are  worthy  of  a  passing  notice.  This  form  of  ex- 
pression, so  common  with  Him  in  the  working  of  miracles, 
was  doubtless  intended  to  suggest  the  relation  between 
man's  faith  and  God's  gift.  Faith  is  that  condition  or 
exercise  of  the  soul  which  brings  it  into  communication 
with  the  divine  power  and  good-will.  It  is  the  soul's  re- 
ceptivity, without  which  it  neither  can  obtain  the  desired 
gift,  nor  be  truly  blessed  even  in  obtaining  it.  This  being 
so,  it  follows  necessarily  that  the  measure  of  the  recep- 
tivity is  the  measure  of  the  thing  received ;  the  fulness 
of  the  foith  is  the  fulness  of  the  blessing.  He  who  bestows 
on  the  ground  of  the  faith  alone,  must  also  give  according 
to  the  faith. 

As  the  restored  blind  man  left  the  presence  of  Jesus, 
there  was  brought  to  Him  a  certain  demoniac,  who,  like 
the  one  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  was  blind  and 
dumb.  Jesus  took  prompt  pity  on  the  unfortunate  crea- 
ture, and  discerning  with  divine  insight  the  secret  of  his 
maladies,  proceeded  at  once  to  cast  out  the  unclean  spirit 
that  had  possessed  him.  The  blind  and  dumb  man  both 
spake  and  saw.  The  influence  of  the  miracle  on  the  be- 
holders was  widely  various.  The  people  were  filled  with 
wonder  and  affirm.ed  that,  "It  was  never  so  seen  in 
Israel."*  Even  among  those  who  had  beheld  marvellous 
displays  of  divine  power,  the  like  of  such  miracles  had 
not  before  been  witnessed.  The  Pharisees,  however,  act- 
uated by  settled  hatred  and  hostility,  although  they  could 
not  deny  the  reality  of  the  cure,  repeated  their  old  blas- 
pheming taunt :  "  He  casteth  out  devils  through  the  prince 
of  devils."  t  Little  cared  they  for  the  suffering  humanity 
relieved  ;  little  for  the  divine  reality  of  the  relief  Such 
is  the  heart  of  man,  when  left  to  its  own  evil  passions. 

*  Matthew  ix.  33.  f  See  Matthew  xii.  24. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  THEORY  OF  OUR  LORD'S  MIRACULOUS  HEALING. 

A  PECULIARITY  IN  OUR  LORD'S  MIRACLES  OF  HEALING  —  MIRACULOUS 
CURES,  LIKE  NATURAL  ONES,  DEMAND  A  REMEDIAL  AGENCY — THE 
REMEDIAL  VIRTUE  IN  THE  FORMER  FOUND  IN  THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  — 
NOTHING  INCREDIBLE  IN  THE  COMMUNICATION  OF  THIS  VIRTUE  BY 
VOLITION  AND  TOUCH  —  THE  MIRACULOUS  CURES  OF  JESUS  NOT 
WROUGHT  BY  MESMERISM — THEY  INVOLVE  NO  VIOLATION  OF  NATURAL 
LAW — THE    THEORY   OF    THE   RESURRECTION    OF    THE    RIGHTEOUS. 

As  the  various  miracles  of  healing  which  have  so  far 
been  narrated  embrace  some  of  each  of  the  kinds  wrought 
during  later  portions  of  His  life,  and  are  in  most  respects 
types  of  their  kind,  we  may  here  pause  to  notice  a  pecu- 
liarity in  most  of  them,  a  careful  study  of  which  may 
help  us  to  a  correct  theory  of  our  Lord's  mode  of  healing. 
This  is  by  no  means  to  claim  that  we  can  fully  understand 
these  miracles, — indeed,  we  cannot  understand  how  dis- 
eases are  cured  by  natural  remedies, — but  we  may  form  a 
conception  of  their  mode  which  shall  be  true  as  far  as  it 
goes. 

Every  cure  is  effected  by  some  remediaj  agency  oper- 
ating on  the  patient.  This  is  true  of  a  miraculous  cure. 
Miracles  are  effects  and,  just  like  any  other  effects,  pre- 
suppose a  cause.  When  Peter's  wife's  mother  was  healed 
of  the  fever,  the  miracle  consisted,  not  in  her  being  cured 
without  the  use  of  any  remedial  agent,  but  in  its  being 
done  by  supernatural  instead  of  natural  means.  Some 
remedial  influence  there  was,  operating  on  her  diseased 


396  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

organism,  and  that  of  a  very  powerful  character.  The 
same  was  true  of  the  healing  of  the  leper;  of  the  woman 
with  the  issue  of  blood ;  the  restoring  of  the  blind  men 
to  sight ;  and  even  of  the  raising  of  the  daughter  of  Jai- 
rus.  Some  real  remedial  agency,  or  vitalizing  power, 
acted  upon  the  bodily  systems  of  the  persons  thus  restored. 

The  question  now  arises,  whence  or  what  was  this 
remedial  agency  or  force  through  which  these  miraculous 
cures  were  wrought?  The  peculiarity  suggested  above, 
is  in  this  direction  highly  significant.  It  is  a  noticeable 
fact  that  in  so  many  of  these  miracles  there  was  an  actual 
contact  between  the  body  of  Jesus  and  that  of  the  person 
healed :  either  voluntarily  or  otherwise,  Jesus  touched 
them.  In  some  cases,  this  was  done  with  a  manner  ex- 
pressly indicative  of  a  connection  between  the  touching 
and  the  healing.  Thus  Jesus  put  forth  His  hand  and 
touched  the  leper;  He  touched  the  eyes  of  the  blind 
men ;  and  He  took  the  daughter  of  Jairus  by  the  hand. 
That  there  was  such  a  relation  between  the  two  facts  is" 
strikingly  set  forth  in  His  own  words  when  He  was 
touched  by  the  woman  in  the  crowd.  He  declared  not 
only  that  some  one  had  touched  Him,  but  that  in  conse- 
quence of  that  touch,  virtue  had  gone  out  of  Hum.  The 
inference  from  all  this  is  inevitable  that  the  healing  power 
resided  in  the  person  of  Jesus ;  it  went  forth  from  His  per- 
son to  that  of  those  miraculously  restored.  The  exce^- 
tionid  cases  narrated  by  the  evangelists,  only  show  that 
contact  was  not  necessary  to  a  cure;  they  do  not  invalidate 
the  inference  as  to  the  agency  which  effected  the  cure. 

What  this  healing  agency  was  in  its  essence  we  do  not 
know,  but  the  ftict  of  its  transmission  from  Jesus  to  those 
restored  by  Him  is  perfectly  cre(lil)le.  It  is  a  familiar  fact 
that  disease  can  ])e  connnunicated  by  one  person  to  an- 
other. In  the  case  of  some  diseases,  commimication  is 
certam   to    result  from  contact;  in  some  even  proximity 


MIRACULOUS    HEALING.  397 

without  contact  is  enough.  It  is  quite  conceivable  that 
a  remedial  influence  may  be  conveyed  in  a  similar  Vfny. 
Indeed,  setting  aside  all  the  extravagant  phenomena  some- 
times alleged  in  that  direction,  it  is  a  well-established  fact 
that,  under  certain  conditions,  one  person  may,  by  volition, 
and  commonly  through  actual  contact,  convey  a  vital  influ- 
ence to  another  which  shall  operate  on  both  body  and  mind. 

This  is  adduced,  not  Ijy  any  means  as  showing  that  the 
miracles  of  Jesus  were  wrought  by  a  mesmeric  or  mag- 
netic influence.  This  would  fall  little  short  of  blasphemy. 
It  is  only  adduced  as  showing  that,  according  to  our  own 
experience,  there  is  nothing  incredible  in  our  Lord's  im- 
parting healing  virtue  from  His  own  person  to  the  bodies 
of  others.  Endued  as  He  was  with  a  vitality  which  was 
superhuman, — divine, — the  very  well-spring  of  life  was  in 
Him.  His  body  was,  so  to  speak,  a  reservoir  of  life ;  for 
even  in  His  manhood  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  and  had 
received  of  the  Father  to  have  life  in  Himself  His  very 
person  w^as  therefore  full  of  virtue,  and  this  virtue  was 
communicable  by  touch, — even  by  mere  volition.  It  was 
so  communicated,  and  this  transmitted  vitality  was  the 
remedial  agency  by  which  He  cured  diseases. 

Nor  does  this  involve  a  violation,  or  even  a  suspension 
of  the  laws  of  nature.  It  only  involves  the  operation  of 
a  higher  vital  force  in  perfect  harmony  with  existing 
forces  and  laws.  Indeed,  it  is  only  a  short-sighted  vision 
which  finds  any  difficulty  here.  The  real  mystery,  the  real 
miracle  lies  back  of  and  beyond  all  this :  it  was  not  so 
much  in  the  performing  of  these  particular  cures,  as  in 
the  existence  of  that  "  virtue  "  or  power, — of  that  divine 
life  in  human  flesh,  to  the  outcoming  of  which  they  are 
ascribed.  Granting  the  incarnation,  all  the  rest  follows 
naturally  and  of  course.  The  wonder  then  is,  not  that 
contact  with  the  Son  of  God  should  heal  disease,  but  that 
the  Son  of  God  should  be  found  in  fashion  as  a  man. 


398  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

The  preceding  train  of  thought  is  further  interesting 
as  suo-o-estive  of  the  true  theory  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  rio-hteous.  It  has  been  seen  that  it  was  by  the  out- 
coming  and  imparting  of  vitalizing  power  from  the  per- 
son of  Jesus,  that  the  daughter  of  Jairus  and  the  son  of 
the  widow  of  Nain  were  restored  to  hfe.  And  thus  will 
all  believers  be  quickened;  —  nay,  the  resurrection-life 
has  already  been  imparted  to  them.  United  to  Christ  as 
the  branch  is  united  to  the  vine,  they  have  already  been 
brought  into  this  vivifying  contact.  The  Spirit  of  Christ 
which  noiD  dwells  in  them  shall  quicken  their  mortal 
bodies  at  the  last  day.  Those  bodies  have  been  immor- 
talized by  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  they 
shall  not  wholly,  absolutely  die.  They  die,  only  as  dies 
the  grain  which  is  cast  into  the  ground  as  seed ;  the 
grosser  parts  decay,  but  the  true  life  in  the  germ  does 
not  perish.  The  holy,  dead  body  and  soul  are  still  in 
vital  relation  with  Jesus,  in  whom  is  the  fountain  of  life, 
and  at  the  appointed  time  they  shall  hear  the  voice  of 
the  Son  of  Man  and  shall  come  forth  to  the  resurrection 
of  life.*  And  this  idea  of  a  vital,  resurrection-force,  as 
already  imparted  and  dwelling  within  the  believer,  is 
most  clearly  affirmed  by  our  Lord  in  the  memorable 
words  of  His  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  John :  "  Whoso 
eateth  My  flesh  and  drinketh  My  blood  hath  eternal 
life."  The  whole  passage  is  in  fact  an  unfolding  of  this 
very  theory  of  the  resurrection. 


^John  V.  28,  29.  t  John  vi.  48-58,  in  full. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

ANOTHER  MISSIONARY   CIRCUIT  IN  GALILEE. 

NAZARETH  REVISITED — JESUS  AGAIN  REJECTED — PREACHES  AND  HEALS 
THE  SICK  IN  THE  CITIES  AND  VILLAGES — HIS  COMPASSION  FOR  THE 
MULTITUDE — THE  APOSTLES  INSTRUCTED  AND  SENT  FORTH — JESUS 
RETURNS  TO  CAPERNAUM  —  TIDINGS  OF  THE  DEATH  OF  JOHN  THE 
BAPTIST. 

Matthew  xiii.  54-58.    Mark  vi.  1-6.    Matthew  is.  35-38!    Mark  vr.  6-13.    Matthew  x. 
Mark  vi.  7-11.    Luke  ix.  1-5. 

The  work  of  Jesus  in  Capernaum  was  well  nigh  accom- 
plished. The  people  of  that  city  seem  to  have  generally 
taken  sides,  either  for  Him  or  against  Him.  It  does  not 
appear  that  many  of  them,  subsequent  to  this  time,  be- 
came His  disciples ;  but  there  was  rather  a  strong  ten- 
dency to  defection  among  those  who  had  professed  to 
believe  in  His  prophetic  mission.  The  people  of  the 
rural  districts,  however,  were  as  yet  comparatively  free 
from  prejudice ;  and  our  Lord,  therefore,  set  out  on  an- 
other missionary  tour  among  the  cities  and  villages  of 
Galilee. 

Was  it  in  part  a  natural  longing  for  the  place  in  which 
He  had  spent  the  holy  and  peaceful  days  of  His  child- 
hood, that  led  Him  once  more  to  Nazareth,  whence  He 
had  once  been  driven  as  an  excommunicated  outlaw?  It 
was  certainly  in  a  spirit  of  divine  pity  and  long-suffer- 
ing, that  He  again  entered  the  town,  and  even  went  into 
the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  and  began  to  teach ;  but 


400  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIKIST. 

He  found  the  old  prejudice  still  violent  and  bitter ;  for  the 
people  still  harped  on  His  humble  condition,  His  laborious 
employment,  and  His  lowly  circle  of  relatives  while  He 
dwelt  among  them.  Finding  their  hearts  closed  against 
Him  by  unbelief,  He  soon  departed;  but  not  before  He 
had  even  there  laid  His  hands  on  a  few  sick  peojDle  and 
healed  them. 

In  other  parts  of  Galilee  He  was  received  with  rever- 
ence and  enthusiasm.  He  was  followed  by  such  multitudes 
that  He  found  it  impossible  to  minister  to  all,  either  bodily 
relief  or  spiritual  instruction.  In  their  eagerness  to  hear 
and  be  healed,  the  people  made  inadequate  provision  for 
their  physical  sustenance,  and  many  even  fainted  and 
were  scattered  abroad  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd.  Be- 
sides, amidst  such  a  concourse  and  crush  of  people,  only 
a  few  could  be  benefited  by  the  personal  preaching  of 
the  Lord.  He  therefore  called  His  twelve  apostles  around 
Him,  and  gave  them  a  special  mission,  designed,  so  to 
speak,  to  multiply  Himself,  and  convey  to  all  the  popu- 
lation of  the  region  the  benefits  of  His  personal  min- 
istry. Though  their  mission  was  limited  to  a  small 
section  of  the  Holy  Land,  and,  at  the  outside,  to  a  few 
weeks  in  duration,  the  general  instructions  under  which 
they  went  forth  were  of  much  larger  scope,  extending, 
in  all  except  unimportant  details,  to  their  whole  subse- 
quent ministry,  and  also  setting  forth  the  principles  on 
which  the  church  in  every  age  and  every  country,  must 
prosecute  the  work  of  evangelization.  It  is,  therefore, 
especially  important  that  these  instructions  should  be 
carefully  studied. 

Where,  then,  were  the  apostles  to  go,  and  what  were 
they  to  do  ?  The  field  of  their  labors  is  carefully  de- 
fined : — "  Go  not  into  the  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and  into 
any  city  of  the  Samaritans  enter  ye  not ;  but  go  rather 
to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel."     Let  it  not  for 


illpnT'iiJir j lai'iiiii   i  >r  m^^^"^^ 


ililfi 
l!lilliil!l!iillll|l!sil  iiiP!!'! 


I'  i  Ik 


Isi  I  "'Vliililiil!!!  I 


V[f/,  [h      '7^^u 


THE    MISSION    OF    THE    APOSTLES.  401 

a  moment  be  supposed  that  Jesus  was  in  the  slightest 
degree  influenced  by  Jewish  prejudice  against  Gentiles 
and  Samaritans.  He  Himself  had  preached  the  gospel  to 
the  people  of  Sychar,  and  He  had  warmly  commended 
the  faith  of  the  centurion.  He  had  besides  given  many 
distinct  intimations  of  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
extension  of  His  kingdom  throughout  the  world.  The 
true  reason  why  the  mission  of  the  apostles  was  restricted 
to  the  "lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel"  was  an  eco- 
nomical one.  The  Galileans  were  already  prepared  to 
receive  the  messengers  of  Christ.  Their  interest  was  al- 
ready awakened ;  and  they  were  predisposed  to  lend  a 
willing  ear  to  any  who  were  understood  to  be  the  confi- 
dential disciples  and  messengers  of  Jesus.  On  the  other 
hand,  Gentiles  and  Samaritans,  with  here  and  there  an  ex- 
ception, were  so  blinded  by  ignorance  and  national  preju- 
dices, that  they  were  not  prepared  at  once  to  understand 
and  accept  even  the  simple  truths  which  the  Twelve  were 
commissioned  to  preach.  As  the  business  of  Christ  re- 
quired haste.  He  could  not  afford  to  throw  away  labor  on 
a  sterile  and  unpromising  field.  The  principle  underly- 
ing this  restriction  is  of  universal  application.  While  the 
gospel  is  to  be  preached  to  all  nations,  it  is  to  be  first 
proclaimed  to  those  who  are  most  enlightened  and  sus- 
ceptible. Our  Lord  after  His  resurrection,  while  He  en- 
larged the  commission  of  the  apostles,  prescribed  the  same 
order  of  evangelization ;  "  Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  Me 
both  in  Jerusalem  and  in  all  Judea,  and  in  Samaria,  and 
to  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth : " — first,  in  Jerusa- 
lem ;  next,  in  Samaria ;  and  then,  to  the  remotest  Gentile 
nations. 

With  what  powers  were  the  apostles  clothed?  "As 
ye  go,  preach,  saying.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand.      Heal    the    sick,    cleanse    the    lepers,    raise    the 

dead,  cast  out  devils;   freely  ye   have   received,  freely 
26 


402  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

give."  Their  message,  though  plain  and  simple,  was  im- 
portant and  interesting.  They  were  to  announce  the 
speedy  coming  of  that  glorious  kingdom  of  God,  for 
which  good  men  and  prophets  had  longed  for  ages. 
Whether  they  were  to  preach  that  Jesus  Himself  was  the 
Messiah,  does  not  appear.  It  seems  probable  that  they 
were  not  as  yet  permitted  to  be  thus  explicit ;  but  that 
they  were  to  preach  in  Plis  name,  and  point  the  people 
to  Him  as  the  great  Prophet  and  Apostle  of  God,  appears 
on  the  very  face  of  their  commission.  That  their  au- 
thority as  His  embassadors  might  be  placed  beyond  ques- 
tion, they  were  empowered  to  work  miracles.  Like  Him, 
they  were  to  heal  the  sick,  to  cleanse  the  lepers,  to  cast 
out  devils,  and  even  to  raise  the  dead.  What  miracles 
they  actually  performed  is  not  recorded ;  but  if  they 
failed  in  any  case — as  they  certainly  did  fail,  not  long 
afterwards,  to  heal  the  lunatic  child, — it  was  because  of 
their  own  unbelief,  and  not  from  any  lack  of  endowment. 
It  has  been  already  intimated  that  their  commission  ex- 
tended beyond  this  brief  missionary  tour,  in  the  course 
of  which  they  healed  many  sick  and  cast  out  many 
demons ;  and  we  know  that  after  the  day  of  Pentecost 
they  raised  the  dead. 

Having  invested  His  messengers  with  such  ample  pow- 
ers, Jesus  sent  them  forth,  destitute  of  all  visible  suste- 
nance, and  of  all  human  help.  "  Take  nothing  for  your 
journey ;  neither  staves  nor  scrip,  neither  bread,  neither 
money,  neither  have  two  coats  apiece."  "No  means  of 
any  sort  did  He  permit  for  procuring  the  necessaries  of 
life,  or  purchasing  the  helps  of  tlieir  journey;  no  store 
of  provisions,  nor  even  a  scrip  for  containing  what  might 
be  offered  them  by  the  pity  or  piety  of  the  people ;  no 
raiment  or  vesture,  with  the  change  of  which  to  comfort 
their  weary  and  way-worn  limbs,  besides  what  was  suffi- 
cient  for   nature's   modesty   and    her   present  necessity. 


THE   MISSION    OF    THE    APOSTLES.  403 

Without  staff,  without  shoes,  they  fared  on  their  way  two 
by  two ;  their  sandaled  feet  exposed  to  dust  and  sultry 
heat ;  their  bodies,  to  every  blast  of  heaven  ;  their  natural 
wants,  to  man's  precarious  charity.  The  most  defenseless 
bird  that  flies  athwart  the  heavens,  the  weakest,  most 
persecuted  beast  that  cowers  beneath  the  covert,  or  scuds 
along  the  plain,  is  better  provided  with  visible  defenses 
than  were  these  apostles  of  the  Highest ;  for  the  birds  of 
the  air  have  nests  to  which  to  wing  their  flight  at  even- 
tide, and  the  beasts  of  the  earth  have  holes  wherein  to 
screen  themselves  from  pursuit ;  but  the  founders  of  the 
spiritual  and  everlasting  kingdom  have  not  where  to  lay 
their  head."  * 

'They  were  directed  to  make  such  haste  as  not  even  to 
salute  any  man  by  the  way,  thus  avoiding  that  tedious 
interchange  of  conventional  courtesies  in  which  orientals 
have  alwa3^s  wasted  so  much  precious  time.  Lest  their 
time  should  be  frittered  away,  and  their  zeal  should  be 
quenched  in  a  round  of  festive  entertainments,  they  were 
instructed  to  seek  out,  wherever  they  went,  those  who 
were  in  repute  for  virtue  and  piety,  and  with  them,  unless 
they  were  rejected,  to  abide  till  their  mission  called  them 
elsewhere. 

"  Thus  disfurnished  of  resources  from  Nature's  store- 
house, and  hindered  from  ploughing  with  human  help,  do 
you  ask  if  these  missionaries  of  the  gospel  had  promises 
of  welcome  everywhere,  and  went  forth  on  a  flourishing 
and  popular  cause  ?  if  the  way  was  prepared  for  them  in 
every  city,  and  a  hospitable  home  made  ready  for  them 
in  every  house  ?  Hear  what  their  Lord  saith  to  them  at 
parting :  '  Go  your  ways ;  behold  I  send  you  forth  as 
sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves.  Beware  of  men,  for  they 
will  deliver  you  up  to  the  councils,  and  they  will  scourge 

*  Edward  Irving's  sermon  before  the  London  Missionary  Society. 


40-i  THE    LIFE    OF    CUKIST. 

you  in  the  synagogues,  and  ye  shall  be  brought  before 
governors  and  kings  for  My  sake ;  the  brother  shall  de- 
liver up  the  brother,  and  the  father  the  child,  and  the 
children  shall  rise  up  against  the  parents  and  cause  them 
to  be  put  to  death,  and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for 
My  name's  sake.'  Go,  my  chosen  ones,  go  like  the  de- 
fenseless lamb  into  the  maw  of  the  ravenous  wolf;  the 
world  thirsteth  for  your  blood,  and  is  in  arms  against 
3'our  undefended  lives ;  nevertheless,  go.  You  are  with- 
out weapons  of  defense,  no  bribes  are  in  your  hands,  nor 
soft  words  upon  your  tongues ;  and  you  go  in  the  teeth 
of  hatred,  derision  and  rage.  Nevertheless,  my  children, 
go."* 

The  dangers  here  foretold  certainly  did  not  threaten 
the  apostles  on  this  particular  journey, — a  sufficient  proof 
that  our  Lord  intended  this  commission  to  regulate  their 
Avhole  subsequent  ministry.  While,  however,  He  stripped 
them  of  every  earthly  hope  and  stay.  He  pressed  to  their 
lips  at  parting  a  cup  full  to  the  brim  of  the  very  wine  of 
heaven.  What  support  and  consolation  could  they  desire 
which  Jesus  did  not  convey  in  these  gracious  words  ? — 
"  Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing  ?  and  one  of 
them  shall  not  fall  on  the  ground  without  3'our  Father. 
But  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered.  Fear 
not,  therefore ;  ye  are  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows. 
Whosoever  therefore  shall  confess  Me  before  men,  him 
will  I  confess  also  before  My  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 
But  whosoever  shall  deny  Me  before  men,  him  will  I  also 
deny  before  My  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  Think  not 
that  I  am  come  to  send  peace  on  earth :  I  came  not  to 
send  peace,  but  a  sword.  For  I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at 
variance  ao-ainst  his  father,  and  the  dauorhter  agrainst  her 
mother,  and   the   daugliter-in-law  against  her  mother-in- 

*Irving's  Missionary  Sermon. 


THE    MISSION    OF    TUE    APOSTLES.  405 

law.  And  a  man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  own  house- 
hold. He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  Me, 
is  not  worthy  of  Me ;  and  he  that  loveth  son  or  daughter 
more  than  Me,  is  not  worthy  of  Me.  And  he  that  taketh 
not  his  cross,  and  followeth  after  Me,  is  not  worthy  of  Me. 
He  that  findeth  his  life  shall  lose  it;  and  he  that  loseth 
his  life  for  my  sake,  shall  find  it.  He  that  receiveth  3'ou, 
receiveth  Me ;  and  he  that  receiveth  Me,  receiveth  Him 
that  sent  Me.  He  that  receiveth  a  prophet  in  the  name 
of  a  prophet,  shall  receive  a  prophet's  reward  ;  and  he 
that  receiveth  a  righteous  man  in  the  name  of  a  right- 
eous man,  shall  receive  a  righteous  man's  reward.  And 
whosoever  shall  give  to  drink  unto  one  of  these  little 
ones  a  cup  of  cold  water  only,  in  the  name  of  a  dis- 
ciple, verily  I  say  unto  you,  he  shall  in  no  wise  lose  his 
reward." 

"  Thus  while  He  cut  them  off  from  the  power  and  virtue 
of  gold  and  silver,  which,  they  say,  will  unlock  barred 
gates  and  scale  frowning  ramparts  ;  while  He  denied  them 
the  scrip,  and  therewith  hindered  the  accumulation  and 
use  of  property  in  any  form ;  while  He  forbade  them 
change  of  raiment,  that  is,  pleasure  and  accommodation 
of  the  person ;  and  with  their  staff  interdicted  all  ease 
of  travel  and  recreation  of  the  sense  by  the  way ;  and  in 
hindering  salutations  hindered  the  formalities  of  life  and 
the  ends  of  natural  or  social  affection  ;  all  these,  the  natu- 
ral motives  to  enterprise  and  the  sweet  rewards  of  success, 
while  He  cut  asunder  as  hath  been  said,  He  foresaw  that 
whether  He  did  so  or  not,  the  world  would  soon  do  it  for 
them ;  He  did  not  leave  their  minds  in  a  void  state,  with- 
out inducement  or  hope  of  reward ;  but  proceeded  to  fill 
each  several  chamber  thereof  with,  the  spirit  of  a  more 
enduring  patience  and  a  more  adventurous  daring;  to 
give  to  faith  what  He  took  from  sight ;  what  He  inter- 
dicted in  the  visible  to  supply  from  the  invisible ;  Mhat 


406  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

of  temporal   things  He  spoiled  them  of  to  repay  with 
things  spiritual  and  eternal."  * 

Ilavino-  received  this  commission  the  apostles  went 
forth,  preaching  that  men  should  repent.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  in  healing  the  sick  they  made  use  of  oil — the  earliest 
mention  of  anointing  in  the  New  Testament 

There  is  unwonted  revelry  in  the  palace  of  Machoerus. 
Herod  Antipas,  with  his  court  and  army,  is  there,  pre- 
paring to  make  war  on  Aretas,  king  of  Arabia,  the  in- 
censed father  of  the  Tetrarch's  repudiated  and  insulted 
wife.  It  is  his  birthday,  and  his  lords  and  chief  captains 
are  feasting  in  the  great  hall  of  the  palace.  The  splen- 
dor of  the  feast,  which  doubtless  combined  elaborate  Ro- 
man luxury  and  oriental  magnificence,  can  be  better 
imagined  than  described.  The  wine  circulates  freely,  the 
guests  praise  the  liberality  of  Herod,  and  their  honeyed 
flattery  falls  sweetly  on  his  soul.  Pleasure  reigns,  and 
the  feast  extends  far  into  the  night. 

Suddenly  a  young  maiden  glides  into  the  hall,  and 
while  the  sweetest  music  floats  through  the  place,  falls 
into  one  of  those  graceful  and  voluptuous  dances  for 
which  the  East  has  been  always  famous.  This  is  no 
vulgar  artiste,  no  mercenary  performer,  but  a  princess, 
a  daughter  of  Herodias,  the  grand-daughter  of  Herod 
the  Great.  It  may  be  inferred  from  the  admiration  of 
the  guests,  that  the  dancing  of  the  maiden  was  really 
exquisite ;  that  it  was  music  made  visible ;  that  it  was 
the  ''  poetry  of  motion ; "  that  it  was  both  graceful  and 
impassioned ;  in  a  word,  that  it  was  an  exhibition  quite 
in  keeping  with  the  magnificence  of  the  place,  the  splen- 
dor of  the  feast,  and  the  rank  of  the  company.  Enthu- 
siastic applause  follows  the  performance.  Herod,  in  the 
proud,  perhaps  drunken  rapture  of  the  moment,  swore 

*  Edward  Irvins. 


THE    MISSION    OF    TUE    APOSTLES.  407 

that  he  would  give  the  maiden  whatever  she  asked,  even 
though  it  were  the  half  of  his  kingdom. 

Herodias,  we  conjecture,  has  been  watching  the  effect 
of  her  daughter's  performance ;  for  she  is  at  hand  when 
the  maiden  retires  to  consult  her.  There  is  no  hatred  so 
cruel  and  pitiless  as  that  of  a  depraved  woman.  There 
is  one  man  whom  Herodias  can  never  forgive,  and  that 
man  is  in  a  neighboring  dungeon.  It  is  John  the  Bap- 
tist. She  long  ago  determined  that  he  should  die ;  but 
the  timidity  of  her  paramour,  and  a  little  of  the  milk 
of  human  kindness  still  remaining  in  his  nature,  have 
hitherto  prevented  his  yielding  to  her  demand  for  ven- 
geance on  the  prophet  who  had  dared  to  rebuke  her 
shameless  and  incestuous  life.  Now  she  knows  that  her 
time  is  come.  Not  for  a  moment  does  her  cruel  purpose 
falter,  neither  does  she  scruple  to  employ  her  own  daugh- 
ter as  the  instrument  of  her  bloody  revenge ;  but  after 
giving  the  necessary  instruction,  she  sends  the  maiden 
back  to  the  banqueting  hall.  She  enters  in  haste  and 
presents  herself  to  the  king.  "  I  will,"  she  said,  "  that 
thou  give  me  here,  by  and  by,  in  a  charger,  the  head  of 
John  the  Baptist."  Surely,  such  a  petition  was  never  of- 
fered before  by  a  young  maiden  to  a  monarch.  The 
guests  must,  one  would  think,  have  heard  it  with  horror ; 
but  courtier-like,  they  make  no  sign.  As  for  Herod,  he  is 
sorely  troubled  by  the  strange,  incredible  request;  but 
he  prides  himself  on  keeping  his  promises,  especially 
when  confirmed  by  oaths.  He  thinks  his  honor  as  a  king 
is  pledged,  and  so  he  issues  the  fatal  order,  and  sends  an 
executioner  to  the  jDrison  for  the  head  of  the  prophet. 

"We  know  not  how  the  Baptist  met  his  doom.  The 
summons  was  sudden ;  but  we  can  not  doubt  that  he  was 
calm,  joyous,  victorious.  He  had  at  length  fulfilled  his 
course ;  he  had  fought  through  his  great  battle ;  and  he 
could  not  die  otherwise  than  with  serene  and  exultant 


408  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

faith.  Our  history  merely  records  the  fact  that  he  was 
beheaded  in  prison,  that  his  head  was  presented  to  the 
daughter  of  Herodias  in  a  charger,  and  that  she  carried 
it  to  her  mother.  The  disciples  of  John,  hearing  of  his 
cruel  death,  bore  his  remains  to  the  tomb  and  then  natu- 
rally went  and  told  Jesus.  Their  journey  must  have  oc- 
cupied several  days,  and  they  probably  met  our  Lord 
about  the  tune  of  His  return  to  Capernamn. 


PART    VII. 


Tlie  Later  Galilean  Ministry 
of  Jesns. 


CHAPTER    I. 

JESUS    FEEDS    THE    MULTITUDE,   AND    WALKS    UPON 

THE  SEA. 

SUCCESS  OF  OUR  LOUD's  EARLIER  GALILEAN  MINISTRY — PECULIARITY  OP 
THE  LATER  MINISTRY — RETUltN  OF  THE  TWELVE — JESUS  THItOXGEU 
BY  THE  MULTITUDE — HE  SECRETLY  DEPARTS  TO  A  DESERT  PLACE — 
THE  MULTITUDE  FOLLOW  HIM — ANXIETY  AND  DOUBT  OF  THE  APOS- 
TLES AS  TO  FEEDING  THE  MULTITUDE — HE  FEEDS  THE  MULTITUDE — 
JESUS  SENDS  AWAY  THE  DISCIPLES  AND  RETIRES  INTO  A  MOUNTAIN — 
THE  DISCIPLES  OVERTAKEN  BY  THE  STORM  ON  THE  LAKE — JESUS  GOES 
TO  THEM,  WALKING  ON  THE  WATER  —  PETER'S  EXPERIMENT  —  THE 
MULTITUDE  GATHER  TO  JESUS  AND  HE  HEALS  THE  SICK  —  GENERAL 
DESIGN    OF    THE    MIRACLES. 

Matthew  xit.  15-35.    Mark  vi.  31-56.    Luke  is.  10.    John  vi.  7-15. 

We  now  enter  upon  our  Lord's  later  Galilean  ministry. 
The  first  or  earlier  portion  was  closed  bj  the  death  of 
the  Baptist,  and  its  announcement  to  Jesus.  It  was 
marked  by  intense  and  unremitting  activity,  especially 
-towards  its  termination,  at  which  time  the  popularity  of 
Jesus  reached,  if  we  may  so  speak,  its  height.  It  was 
marked  by  the  widest  exercise  of  His'healing  power;  it 
witnessed  many  of  His  most  stupendous  miracles.  Every- 
where crowds  upon  crowds  followed  Him,  or  withdrawing 
from  Him,  spread  everywhere  the  fame  of  His  mighty 
works.  No  formal  opposition  had  yet  been  developed 
among  the  people  ;  His  labors  were  as  yet  comparatively 
free  and  unimpeded. 

His  later  Galilean  ministry  was  marked  by  some  pe- 
culiarities of  its  own.     In  all  that  looked  to  the  rcconjni- 


412  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

tlon  of  Jesus  by  the  Jewish  nation  as  its  Prince  and  Sav- 
iour, it  was  less  promising.  The  unsparing  severity  with 
which  He  had  rebuked  and  denounced  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees  had  roused  them  to  sleepless  hostility.  The 
clearer  revelation  He  now  made' of  the  exclusively  spir- 
itual character  of  His  Messianic  mission  perplexed  and 
disappointed  the  people.  The  multitude,  always  fickle, 
becoming  somewhat  accustomed  to  His  mighty  works, 
were  now  more  open  to  the  insidious  cavils  and  blas- 
phemous suggestions  of  the  Pharisees.  John's  mission, 
as  the  forerunner  of  Jesus,  had  come  to  an  unsuccessful 
and  even  tragical  close,  the  natural  influence  of  which  was 
to  cast  discredit  upon  the  claims  of  our  Lord  Himself 

All  these  facts  Jesus  took  clearly  into  account.  Rea- 
soning from  them.  He  could  come  to  but  one  conclusion. 
His  own  career  was  drawing  to  a  close.  The  time  was 
not  far  distant  when  He  "  must  sutler  many  things  and 
be  set  at  nought."  Hence,  w^e  shall  find  Him  shaping  His 
course  to  meet  the  changing  aspect  of  things ;  not  with 
the  rash  courage  and  bravado  of  a  fmatic  rushing  head- 
long to  His  fate,  but  wisely  avoiding  a  needless  precipita- 
tion of  the  final  tragedy,  and  assiduously  laboring  to  put 
His  infant  church  in  a  state  of  readiness  for  the  great 
trial  which  was  before  it.  He  now  withdraws  Himself 
more  and  more  from  the  public  eye,  and  devotes  Him- 
self more  especially  to  the  apostolic  training  of  the 
Twelve,  and  to  their  proper  preparation  for  His  approach- 
ing death. 

Our  Lord  appears  at  the  time  when  this  portion  of  the 
sacred  narrative  opens,  to  have  returned  from  one  of 
His  missionary  circuits  to  Capernaum.  Here,  the  messen- 
gers who  brought  the  news  of  John's  death  would  most 
naturally  seek  Him.  Capernaum  would  of  course  be  the 
proper  place  of  rendezvous  for  the  Twelve  when  their 
immediate  mission  had  been  completed.     Hither  at  this 


JESUS   FEEDS  THE   MULTITUDE.  413 

time  they  had  come,  perhaps  hastened  in  their  return  by 
the  eventful  news  of  the  martyrdom  of  the  Baptist.  It 
would  not  be  strange  if  the  event  filled  them  with  f^onie 
apprehension  for  their  Master's  safety.  Finding  Ilim  here 
and  to  all  appearance  as  yet  safe,  they  proceed  to  report 
their  success,  and  to  recount  the  various  contradictory 
rumors  which  were  afloat  as  to  Jesus  Himself;  some  of 
the  people  regarding  Him  as  one  of  the  old  prophets, 
others  as  Elijah,  and  others,  among  whom  w^as  Herod  An- 
tipas,  saying  that  He  was  John  the  Baptist  risen  from  the 
dead. 

Upon  our  Lord's  return  to  Capernaum,  He  was,  as  usual, 
beset  and  thronged  with  multitudes.  ''  Many  were  com- 
ing and  going  and  they  had  no  leisure  so  much  as  to  eat." 
The  concourse  was,  perhaps,  greater  because  the  approach 
of  the  Passover  had  set  the  great  mass  of  the  people  in 
motion  toward  Jerusalem.  Many  companies,  or  caravans, 
no  doubt  improved  the  opf)ortunity  which  this  journey 
afforded,  to  stop  and  see  the  great  prophet  whose  fame 
had  gone  abroad  over  the  land.  Of  course,  all  privacy 
and  repose  were  out  of  the  question. 

And  yet  both  were  needed.  The  apostles  were  some- 
what exhausted  by  their  recent  labors ;  for  we  can  not 
but  believe  that  active,  earnest  men  as  they  were,  and 
wdth  our  Lord's  example  of  indefatigable  diligence  before 
them,  their  labors  had  been  most  arduous.  It  w^as  impor- 
tant, also,  that  opportunity  should  be  had  for  giving  them 
fresh  instructions  preparatory  to  a  new  mission.  Jesus 
Himself  may  have  felt  the  need  of  a  season  of  solitary 
communion  with  the  Father  for  the  refreshing  of  His  own 
spirit,  agitated  as  He  was  by  the  death  of  John,  whose 
bloody  end  doubtless  foreshadowed  His  own.*  In  addition 
to  all  this,  it  seemed  necessary  for  Him  to  withdraw^  from 

— , ■ ■ 

*See  "Andrews'  Life  of  Christ,"  page  299. 


414  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

the  multitude  who,  grieved  and  exasperated  by  John's 
death  be^an  to  look  to  Jesus  as  his  possible  avenger. 

In  this  state  of  affairs,  Jesus  determines  to  withdraw 
with  His  disciples  to  some  secluded  retreat.  "Come  ye 
yourselves  apart,"  said  He,  "  into  a  desert  place  and  rest 
awhile."  They  accordingly  took  ship,  and  crossing  the 
lake,  sought  refuge  "in  a  desert  place  belonging  to  the 
city  of  Bethsaida,"  a  city  on  the  northern  shore,  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Jordan  into  the  lake. 

But  although  they  withdrew  from  the  multitude,  and 
took  their  departure  as  privately  as  possible,  they  were 
observed  and  their  course  noticed.  The  news  spread  rap- 
idly, and  the  crowd  immediately  started  by  land,  around 
the  head  of  the  lake.  They  made  such  speed  that  they 
reached  the  place  of  our  Lord's  debarkation  before  His 
arrival,  the  vessel  having  been  probably  detained  by  con- 
trary winds.  Hence,  when  Jesus  came  out  of  the  vessel, 
He  found  a  vast  multitude  waiting  to  receive  Him. 

Presented  to  His  view  in  this  spontaneous  movement, — 
so  vv^onderful  for  its  unanimity  and  promptitude, — as  sheep 
without  a  shepherd,  an  active,  earnest  people  without  a 
spiritual  leader,  the  heart  of  Jesus  was  touched  with 
mingled  admiration  and  pity.  He  willingly  abandoned 
for  the  present  His  purpose  to  retire  into  temporary  se- 
clusion, in  order  that  He  might  preach  the  gospel  to  this 
eager  audience,  and  heal  the  diseases  of  their  sick  and 
sufiering  ones.  He  appears  to  have  spent  most  of  the 
day  in  this  work. 

As  the  afternoon  wore  away,  it  became  a  matter  of  anx- 
iety with  the  apostles,  how  this  great  multitude,  among 
whom  were  many  women  and  children,  were  to  be  fed. 
They  had  in  their  haste  come  without  provisions ;  it  was 
a  desert  place,  where  of  course  nothing  was  to  be  had ; 
and  they  had  been  detained  so  long  by  our  Lord's  preach- 
ing, that  it  was  now  too  late  for  them  to  return  to  their 


JESU8    FEEDS    TUE    MULTITUDE.  415 

homes.  Jesus  Himself  increased  the  perplexity  of  His 
disciples  by  asking  Philip,  "  Whence  shall  we  buy  bread 
that  these  may  eat?"  This  was  evidently  intended  as 
an  intimation  of  what  He  intended  to  do  by  His  divine 
power,  but  the  disciples  seem  not  to  have  looked  upon  it 
in  that  light.  It  doubtless  appeared  to  them  unreasona- 
ble that  any  idea  should  be  entertained  that  they  and 
their  Master  should  be  held  responsible  for  the  famishing 
condition  of  the  multitude.  Philip,  who  was  carnal  in 
his  views,  and  who  neither  understood  the  power  nor  the 
purpose  of  Jesus,  replied,  "  Two  hundred  pennyworth  of 
bread,"  (forty-six  dollars' worth,)  "'is  not  sufficient  that 
every  one  of  them  may  take  a  little."  This  was  proba- 
bly the  amount  of  money  the  disciples  had  on  hand.  As 
this  appeared  so  utterly  insufficient  to  f)rovide  for  the 
wants  of  the  multitude,  the  feeling  of  the  disciples  was 
that  it  could  not  be  done.  Hence,  after  much  anxious 
thought  and  inquiry,  they  came  to  Jesus  as  the  evening 
drew  on,  and  said  to  Him,  "  This  is  a  desert  place,  and  the 
time  is  now  past;  send  the  multitude  away,  that  they 
may  go  into  the  villages  and  buy  themselves  victuals." 
Our  Lord  replied;  "^They  need  not  depart;  give  ye  them 
to  eat."  The  disciples  were,  not  only  perplexed,  but  al- 
most irritated  by  these  words,  as  we  may  infer  from  their 
rather  impertinent  answer ;  "  Shall  we  go  and  buy  two 
hundred  j)ennyworth  of  bread,  and  give  them  to  eat  ?  " 

It  was  now  time  for  Jesus  to  take  the  matter  into  His 
own  hands.  It  was  evidently  useless  to  attempt  anything 
with  His  disciples :  they  could  not  yet  get  above  their 
carnal  blindness  and  unbelief.  The  purpose  of  their  Di- 
vine Master  seems  not  to  have  flashed  upon  their  minds. 
Jesus,  therefore,  turns  to  them,  and  says, — we  may  imag- 
ine, somewhat  abruptly  : — "  How  many  loaves  have  ye  ? 
go  and  see."  Andrew  replied  that  there  was  a  lad  pres- 
ent who  had  "five  barley  loaves  and  two  small  fishes; 


416  TUE    LIFE    OF    CIIKIST. 

but,"  said  he,  still  persistent  in  unbelief,  "  what  are  they 
among  so  many?"  These  loaves  were  the  usual  thin 
cakes,  such  as  are  still  eaten  in  the  East,  one  of  which  is 
hardly  sufficient  for  a  single  person.  The  lad  had  proba- 
bly brought  them  with  him  for  his  own  supper.  They 
were  at  best  but  coarse  food,  rarely  eaten  even  in  that 
age,  except  by  cattle  or  the  lowest  class  of  slaves.  To 
be  fed  on  barley  bread  was  a  punishment  inflicted  on  Ro- 
man soldiers  who  deserted  their  standard. 

Small  as  was  the  provision  and  inferior  as  was  its 
quality,  it  was  enough  for  the  purpose  of  Him  whose 
plan  it  is  to  accomplish  great  results  in  the  use  of  feeble 
means.  Jesus  directed  the  loaves  and  the  fishes  to  be 
brought,  and  commanded  the  people  to  sit  dov/n  in  ranks, 
an  order  convenient  for  the  distribution  of  the  food.  The 
place  was  a  pleasant  one  for  the  purpose,  for  it  was  cov- 
ered with  green  grass,  on  which  the  people,  obeying  our 
Lord's  order  with  singular  readiness  reclined  themselves 
in  companies  of  fifties  and  hundreds.  Taking  into  His 
hands  "  the  five  loaves  and  the  two  fishes,  and  looking 
up  to  heaven.  He  blessed  and  brake,  and  gave  the  loaves 
to  His  disciples,  and  the  disciples  to  the  multitude."  The 
distribution  of  the  loaves  and  the  fishes  continued  until  all 
had  taken  "  as  much  as  they  would."  Nor  was  there  any 
lack ;  for  the  provision  multiplied  under  the  hand  of  Jesus, 
until  ''They  did  all  eat  and  were Jilledr 

After  all  had  partaken,  our  Lord  directed  His  disciples 
to  gather  up  the  fragments  that  nothing  might  be  lost. 
It  would  seem  that  each  took  a  basket  and  proceeded  to 
obey  the  order.  When  all  was  done  it  was  found  that 
there  remained  of  the  fragments  of  the  feast  twelce  baskets 
full.  The  feelings  of  these  disciples  as  they  presented 
themselves  before  Jesus,  with  these  twelve  baskets  full  of 
fragments,  and  recalled  their  unbelieving  doubt  as  to  the 
sullicieucy  of  the  five  loaves  and  two  fishes,  can  easily  be 


JESUS    FEEDS    THE    MULTITUDE.  417 

imagined.  Without  a  word  of  reproof  from  Jesus  each 
was  rebuked  by  the  miracle  which  He  bore  in  his  own 
basket. 

The  multitude  who  were  thus  miraculously  fed,  and  who 
numbered  "  about  five  thousand  men,  besides  women  and 
children,"  were  filled  with  w^onder.  That  a  nota])le  mira- 
cle had  been  wrought  was  palpable  to  everj^  one  of  them. 
They  were  seized  with  a  sudden  conviction  of  the  divine 
authoi-ity  of  Jesus.  "  This  is,  of  a  truth,"  said  they,  "  that 
Prophet  that  should  come  into  the  Avorld."  Here  was  a 
Prophet,'  they  thought,  like  Moses,  who  also  fed  the  peo- 
jole  in  the  wilderness.  Full  of  this  feeling,  they  even 
meditated  making  Him  a  king  by  force. 

Divining  their  intention,  our  Lord  constrained  His  dis- 
ciples to  enter  into  a  ship,  directing  them  to  cross  the 
lake  towards  Bethsaida.  It  is  not  improbable  that  He 
thus  hurried  them  away  in  opposition  to  their  wishes,  in 
order  to  prevent  their  becoming  infected  with  the  wild 
and  dangerous  enthusiasm  of  the  multitude.  Having  seen 
them  depart,  He  dismissed  the  people,  and  "  w^ent  up  into 
a  mountain  apart  to  pray."  For,  though  it  was  now  night, 
and  the  day  had  been  one  of  severe  labor.  He  sought  no 
repose  in  sleep.  The  refreshment  He  desired  w^as  com- 
munion with  the  Father.  In  this  deep  seclusion,  far  from 
the  tumult  of  the  world.  He  continued  in  devotion ; — 
from  evening  till  midnight,  from  midnight  till  morn,  en- 
gaged in  silent  prayer  and  praise. 

Meanwhile,  the  disciples,  who  had  left  their  Master 
wnth  the  utmost  reluctance,  were  in  great  perplexity  and 
peril.  They  had  been  overtaken  by  fierce  and  contrary 
winds ;  the  lake  was  boisterous ;  the  waves  were  high 
and  threatening.  Fearing  for  the  safety  of  their  little 
craft,  they  had  taken  in  their  sail  and  resorted  to  their 
oars.  But  they  made  slow  progress.  It  was  now  the 
fourth  watch  of  the  night,  or  near  morning,  and  they  had 

07 


418  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

only  made  ahoiit  throe  miles,  or  lialf  the  distance  across 
the  lake,  although  it  must  have  been  some  eight  hours 
since  they  left  Jesus.  Doubtless  the  disciples,  though  ac- 
customed to  the  sudden  tempests  of  that  treacherous 
lake,  were  somewhat  alarmed.  Anxiously  they  looked 
out  upon  the  thick  sky  and  the  raging  waters.  When, 
on  a  former  occasion,  they  were  tossed  on  these  angry 
■waves,  they  were  in  extreme  fear,  though  Jesus  Himself 
was  with  them  in  the  vessel.     Now,  they  were  alone. 

Suddenly  ihcy  behold  a  spectacle  which  freezes  their 
blood  with  terror.  Through  the  darkness  they  see  a  hu- 
man form  approaching  them,  over  the  waters ;  it  treads 
the  waves,  as  if  they  were  solid  ground ;  it  draws  near 
the  ship  ;  it  even  seems  about  to  pass  by  the  ship.  AH 
Avitness  the  strange  spectacle ;  all  are  struck  with  super- 
natural dread,  for  they  doubt  not  that  it  is  a  spirit.  Nor 
is  it  strange ;  never  had  mortal  eyes  looked  on  the  like 
before.  The}'  cry  out  in  their  terror.  But,  hark !  there 
comes  a  well-known  answering  voice  :  "  Be  of  good  cheer : 
it  is  I :  be  not  afraid."  It  is  the  voice  of  Jesus,  and  their 
terror  is  changed  in  a  moment  to  wonder  and  joy. 

And  now,  Peter  must  signalize  his  superior  courage  and 
faith.  "  Lord,"  he  exclaims,  "  if  it  be  Thou,  bid  me  come 
unto  Thee  on  the  water."  Not  that  he  doubted  whether 
it  was  really  the  Lord.  His  meaning  is  rather:  "Lord, 
since  it  is  Thou,  bid  me  come  to  Thee."  Jesus  does  not 
say,  "  I  bid  thee  come  ; "  but  rather,  "  Come  ; "  "  Make 
the  experiment  if  thou  wilt."  With  characteristic  bold- 
ness and  impetuosity,  Peter  immediately  stepped  ovei 
the  side  of  the  boat  upon  the  water.  For  a  moment,  ho 
was  upborne  by  his  faith  ;  for  something  of  true  faith  he 
li;i(l.  l>ut  when  he  sawMlie  wind  1)oisterous,  and  the  white, 
broken  waves  beneath  his  feet,  a  feeling  of  danger  rushed 
upon  him  ;  he  yielded  to  fear;  he  })egan  to  sink.  Though 
iie  was  a  strong  swimmer,  it  availed  him  not  now;  "For 


JESUS    WALKS    UPON    THE    SEA.  411) 

there  is  no  mingling  of  nature  and  grace  in  this  way. 
He  who  has  entered  the  wonder-world  of  grace,  must 
not  suppose  that  he  may  fall  out  of  it,  at  any  moment 
he  will,  and  betake  himself  to  his  old  resources  of  nature : 
he  has  foregone  these,  and  must  carry  out  what  he  has 
begun,  or  fail  at  his  peril."*  Peter  could,  therefore,  only 
cry  out  for  help  ;  "  Lord,  save  me  !  "  He  had  thought  to 
make  a  show  of  his  courage  and  faith,  before  his  fellow- 
disciples  ;  but  he  must  now  in  the  presence  of  them  all 
confess  his  terror  and  his  weakness.  But  no  one  shall 
call  on  Christ  in  vain,  even  when  brought  into  peril  by 
his  own  presumption  and  unbelief  Peter  found  a  strong 
hand  stretched  forth  to  snatch  him  from  a  watery  grave. 
"0,  thou  of  little  faith;  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt?" 
"  Why  did  you  cease  to  trust  in  Me  ?  So  long  as  you  kept 
yourself  in  communication  with  Me  by  faith,  you  were 
safe."  Saying  this,  Jesus  entered,  with  the  humbled  apos- 
tle, into  the  ship,  and  immediately  the  wind  ceased.  Ah, 
had  we  been  there,  should  we  not  have  done  as  did  all  in 
the  vessel;  should  we  not  have  fallen  at  His  feet  and 
worshiped  Him,  saying :  "  Of  a  truth,  Thou  art  the  Son 
of  God?" 

Soon  after,  they 'reached  the  western  shore,  to  which 
they  Vvcre  bound.  Our  Lord's  presence  becoming  speedily 
known  to  the  men  of  the  place,  they  not  only  spread  the 
news  abroad,  but  even  took  pains  to  collect  and  bring 
together  the  sick  of  the  surrounding  country  that  they 
might  be  healed  by  Him.  "They  sent  out,"  says  the 
evangelist,  "into  all  that  country  round  about,  and  brought 
unto  Him  all  that  were  diseased,  and  besought  Him  thr.t 
they  might  only  touch  the  hem  of  His  garment."  It 
would  seem  also  that,  not  content  with  bringing  them  to 
Him,  they  followed  Him  as  He  proceeded  on  His  journey ; 

*  Trench  "  On  Miracles,"  page  223. 


420  TUE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

"  For  they  began  to  carry  about  in  beds  those  that  were 
sick,  where  they  heard  He  was."  Of  these  sick,  multi- 
tudes were  healed;  many  by  the  simple  life-giving  contact 
which,  as  has  already  been  seen,  was  so  efficacious  in  the 
case  of  the  woman  with  the  issue  of  blood.  "As  many 
as  touched  Him  were  made  whole." 

The  general  design  of  these  miracles  is  obvious.  They 
were  doubtless  intended,  primarily,  to  strengthen  the  faith 
of  the  apostles  who  had  been  so  recent!}^,  for  a  season, 
separated  from  their  Master.  They  needed  a  fresh  dem- 
onstration of  His  power  to  protect  and  provide  for  them ; 
they  needed  new  proof  of  His  faithful,  vigilant  care  even 
when  He  was  absent  from  them.  Above  all,  it  was  in- 
tended, by  such  repeated  outcomings  of  His  divine  power 
and  glory,  to  enlarge  and  elevate  their  conception  of  His 
person  and  office. 

These  miracles  of  our  Lord  had,  moreover,  a  still  wider 
scope  and  significance.  They  had  a  high  symbolical 
meaning ;  they  were,  in  fact,  acted  parables.  In  regard 
to  the  first,  this  is  beyond  question ;  for  our  Lord  Himself 
has,  as  we  shall  see,  fully  set  forth  its  symbolical  meaning. 
Taking  the  hint  from  His  exposition  of  the  first  miracle, 
it  is  not  difficult  for  us  to  trace  out  Ihe  full  force  of  the 
other.  Both  will  ajDpear  in  their  proper  place  in  the  fol- 
lowing chapter. 


CHAPTER    II. 

OUK  LORD'S   DISCOURSE  IN   CAPERNAUM. 

JESUS  REBUKKS  THE  MULTITUDE  FOR  THEIR  SELFISHNESS — HE  DECLARES 
HIMSELF  THE  LIVING  BREAD — THE  SYMBOLICAL  MEANING  OF  THE 
MIRACLE  OF  FEEDING  THE  MULTITUDE — SYMBOLICAL  MEANING  OF 
THE  MIRACLE  OF  WALKING  ON  THE  SEA  AND  STILLING  THE  TEMPEST — 
THE  EFFECT  PRODUCED  UPON  THE  JEWS  BY  OUR  LORD's  DISCOURSE — 
DISAFFECTION  OF  SOME  OF  HIS  DISCIPLES — HE  FOREWARNS  THEM  OF 
GREATER  TRIALS  OF  THEIR  FAITH — PETER'S  CONFESSION — THE  PHARI- 
SEES COMPLAIN  TO  JESUS  OF  HIS  DISCIPLES — HE  UNMASKS  THEIR 
HYPOCRISY — HE  SETS  FORTH  THE  TRUE  DOCTRINE  OF  RELIGIOUS 
PURITY. 

John  VI.  22-66.    Matthew  xy.  1-20.     Mark  vu.  1-22. 

The  multitude,  having  been  sent  away  by  our  Lord  at 
night-fall,  after  the  miracle  of  the  loaves  and  the  fishes, 
appear  to  have  remained  in  the  neighborhood.  Observing 
'"  that  Jesus  went  not  with  His  disciples  into  the  boat,"  they 
seem  to  have  expected  to  find  Him,  on  the  following  day, 
somewhere  in  the  vicinity.  Disaj)pointed  in  this,  they 
took  boats,  and  crossing  the  lake,  sought  for  Him.  They 
at  length  found  Him  at  Capernaum.  This  appears  to 
have  occasioned  them  some  surprise,  for  they  immediately 
inquired  of  Him:  "Rabbi,  when  camest  Thou  hither?" 

Without  answering  their  question,  He  proceeded  to 
rebuke  them  for  their  mercenary  motives  in  seeking  Him. 
"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,"  was  His  language,  "  ye 
seek  Me,  not  because  ye  saw  the  miracles,  but  because 
ye  did  eat  of  the  loaves  and  were  filled.     Labor  not  for 


422  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

the  meat  which  perLsheth,  but  for  that  meat  which  en- 
dureth  unto  everlasting  hie,  which  the  Son  of  Man  shall 
give  unto  you;  for  Him  hath  God  the  Father  sealed." 
He  had  given  them  bread  to  nourish  their  bodies;  He 
had  thus  ministered  to  their  temporal  life;  now  He  inti- 
mates that  He  can  give  them  food  wliicli  will  impart  life 
spiritual  and  everlasting. 

This  grand  truth  He  soon  takes  occasion  to  enunciate 
full}'.  The  people  require  of  Him,  in  attestation  of  His 
divine  authority,  a  new  and  still  more  mighty  miracle, 
such  as  was  wrought  by  Moses  in  the  desert  when  he  fed 
their  fathers  with  manna.  Jesus,  in  reply,  denies  that 
Moses  gave  the  people  bread  from-  heaven.  "  My  Father 
giveth  you  the  true  bread  from  heaven ;  for  the  bread  of 
God  is  He  that  cometli  down  from  heaven  and  giveth  life 
unto  the  world.  I  am  the  bread  of  life :  he  that  cometh 
to  Me  shall  never  hunger ;  and  he  that  believeth  on  Me 
shall  never  thirst.  Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that 
believeth  on  Me  hath  everlasting  life.  I  am  that  bread 
of  life.  Your  fathers  did  eat  manna  in  the  wilderness 
and  are  dead.  This  is  the  bread  which  cometh  down 
from  heaven,  that  a;  man  may  eat  thereof,  and  not  die.  I 
am  the  living  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven ;  if 
any  man  eat  of  this  bread,  he  shall  live  forever ;  and  the 
bread  that  I  will  give  is  my  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for 
the  life  of  the  world.  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  ex- 
cept ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  drink  His 
blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you.  Whoso  eateth  My  flesh, 
and  drinketh  My  blood,  hath  eternal  life,  and  I  will  raise 
him  up  at  the  last  day ;  for  My  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and 
My  blood  is  drink  indeed.  He  that  eateth  My  flesh  and 
drinketh  My  blood,  dwelleth  in  Me  and  I  in  him.  As  the 
living  Father  hath  sent  Me,  and  I  live  by  the  Father,  so 
he  that  eateth  Me,  even  he  shall  live  by  Me." 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  suggest  here,  that  this  passage 


THE    DISCOURSE    AT    CAPEKXAUM.  423 

is  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  New  Testament.  Its 
meaning  has  been  a  matter  of  dispute  in  the  church  for 
ages.  The  general  truth,  that  Christ,  by  His  incarnation, 
death  and  mediation,  has  imparted  spiritual  life  to  a  dead 
world,  lies  upon  the  surface.  As  natural  bread,  when 
eaten  and  assimilated,  is  the  means  of  perpetuating 
bodily  life,  so  Christ,  received  by  faith,  is  the  moans,  or 
rather  the  cause,  of  spiritual  life.  He  is  the  cause ;  for 
the  reason  that  there  is  this  difference  between  Christ 
and  natural  bread :  the  latter  has  no  life  in  itself  to  im- 
part to  a  dead  subject,  but  must  be  assimilated  by  a 
living  organism;  Christ,  on  the  other  hand,  is  "living 
bread,"  quickening  and  assimilating  the  subject  who  re- 
ceives Him.  Those  who  receive  His  flesh  and  blood  jxiss 
into  His  hody,  and  become  His  living  members.  In  giv- 
ing Himself  to  the  world,  then,  Christ  imparts  to  men 
His  own  nature,  His  life.  His  spirit ;  and  in  doing  this. 
He  assimilates  them  to  Himself;  they  dwell  in  Him; 
they  become  one  with  Him. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  see  the  symbolical  force  of  the 
miracle  of  feeding  the  multitude.  When  Christ  came 
from  the  Father  into  the  world.  He  found  the  human 
family  wandering  in  the  desert  of  sin,  as  sheep  having 
no  shepherd ;  and  He  pitied  them,  and  purposed  in  His 
gracious  heart  to  provide  them  bread.  As  they  wandered 
up  and  down,  finding  nought  to  satisfy  their  soul-hun- 
ger, craving  life,  longing  for  immortality,  crying  out  for 
peace  and  salvation,  suddenly  they  heard  a  mighty  voice, 
saying  to  them,  "I  am  the  bread  of  life.  He  that  cometh 
to  Me  shall  never  hunger ;  he  that  believeth  on  Me  shall 
never  thirst;"  and  as  many  as  came,  cried  out  in  rapture  : 
"  Oh  taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  gracious."  Jesus 
spreads  a  feast  for  mankind  in  the  wilderness  of  this 
world,  as  He  spread  one  for  the  multitude  in  the  des- 
ert place.     And  as  He  brake  the  loaves  and  the  fishes, 


424  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

and  breaking,  multiplied  them  until  there  was  "bread 
enough  and  to  spare;"  so  also  brake  He  His  own  body  on 
the  tree,  and  breaking,  multiplied  it  as  the  "Bread  of 
God,"  so  that  there  is  a  sufficiency  for  all :  whosoever 
will  may  come  and*  partake  freely,  "  without  money  and 
without  price." 

Turning  now  to  the  other  miracle,  that  of  walking  on 
the  sea,  and  stilling  the  tempest,  we  shall  find  it  also,  as 
a  symbol,  full  of  instruction  and  comfort.  That  lonely 
ship  on  the  wild,  tempestuous  sea,  struggling  in  the  dark- 
ness with  waves  which  seem  about  to  engulf  it,  is  the 
church  which  the  Master  has  launched  upon  the  billows 
of  time.  Amidst  all  its  perils.  He  watches  over  it  from 
the  mount  of  God,  whither  He  has  gone  to  make  inter- 
cession for  us.  We  see  Him  not;  but  He  never  loses 
sight  of  us.  In  the  hour  of  distress  and  danger,  when 
exhausted  and  ready  to  perish.  He  comes  to  us,  walking 
serenely  on  the  tempestuous  sea.  At  first  we  do  not  per- 
ceive Him  to  be  our  Deliverer,  and  we  cry  out  in  dismay, 
as  at  the  approach  of  a  new  and  greater  peril.  Then,  by 
His  Spirit,  He  makes  Himself  known  :  He  comes  Himself 
on  board  and  stills  the  tempest,  and  immediately  all  is 
peace,  and  we  are  safely  at  the  land. 

Is  not  this  the  history  of  the  church  hitherto  ?  Has 
she  not  been  tempest-tossed  and  wave-beaten  for  these 
eighteen  hundred  years.  During  the  storm  of  persecu- 
tion, and  the  dread  night  of  apostasy,  M'hen  the  clouds 
veiled  the  heavens  and  darkness  covered  the  earth,  she 
labored  painfully  among  the  surges,  but  she  did  not  sink. 
Never  did  her  Divine  Lord  fail  to  watch  over  her,  or  to 
come  to  her,  at  the  fourth  watch  of  the  night,  calming 
the  tempest  and  speaking  words  of  cheer:  "It  is  I;  be  not 
afr.'iid."  Tlien  the  dawn  of  peace,  the  morning  of  refor- 
mation, broke  in  blissful  light  over  land  and  sea.  And  so 
will  it  be  to  the  end  of  time.     He  whose  word  is  sure, 


THE    DISCOUllSE    AT    CAPEllNAUM.  425 

hath  given  her  this  pledge  of  safety :  "  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  * 

Not  less  sure  and  sweet  is  the  revelation  of  Christ  to 
the  individual  believer  in  the  time  of  darkness  and  sor- 
row. Many  a  storm  has  he  passed  through ;  but  every 
one  has  been  glorified  by  the  presence  of  the  Redeemer. 
Many  more  may  await  him,  but  he  need  not  fear.  His 
trust  is  in  One  who  treads  the  wildest  billows  into  a  sea 
of  glass,  and  who  hushes  the  roar  of  the  tempest  into  the 
murmuring  of  the  evening  zephyr.  One  more  night  of 
trial,  at  least,  must  come  to  all  ere  the  voyage  of  life  is 
ended.  We  are  sailing  right  into  the  darkness  of  the  un- 
known sea  of  death.  Yet  we  wall  not  fear.  Our  Deliv- 
erer will  come  to  us  even  there.  Beautiful  will  be  His 
feet  upon  the  sullen  waves ;  sweet  will  be  the  sound  of 
His  voice  through  the  gloom,  saying  to  ics:  "It  is  I;  be 
not  afraid ; "  and  then  the  morning  of  eternity  will  break 
in  beauty  over  the  purple  shores  of  the  Canaan  that  we 
love. 

Reverting  now,  before  we  close,  to  our  Lord's  discourse 
in  general,  we  observe  that  it  produced  startling  and 
seemingly  disastrous  effects.  The  mysterious  nature  of 
the  truths  He  set  forth,  and  the  boldness  of  His  claims 
in  behalf  of  His  divine  nature  and  power,  created  great 
perplexity  and  irritation  among  the  Jews.  Indeed,  the 
w^hole  scene  would  appear  to  have  been  of  the  most  ex- 
citing character.  Now  murmurs  of  dissent  arose  from 
the  astonished  auditory ;  now  they  broke  out  into  angry 
dispute  over  our  Lord's  declarations ;  and  it  would  even 
seem  that  some  indulged  in  threats  of  violence.  It  is 
certain  that  a  malignant  hostility  w\as  evinced  on  the  part 
of  the  Jews  ;  for  it  settled  the  purpose  of  Jesus  to  remain 
in  Galilee.     "  He  would  not  walk  in  Jewry ;  because  the 


*  Matthew  xsvlii   20. 


426  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

Jews  isoiiu:lit  to  kill  Iliiii."  It  luid  become  evident  that 
as  soon  as  He  appeared  in  Judea,  active  measures  would 
be  taken  for  His  destruction. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  the  ill-feeling  excited 
bj"  our  Lord's  discourse,  extended  beyond  the  unbelieving 
Jews,  to  His  immediate  followers.  Many  of  His  disciples 
said  of  some  of  His  declarations  :  "  This  is  an  hard  say- 
ing, who  can  hear  it?"  Nor  was  this  the  worst:  they 
"went  back  and  walked  no  more  with  Him."  They  were 
probably  influenced,  in  part  by  the  growing  evidences  of 
a  wide-spread  popular  disaffection,  and  in  part  by  what 
probably  seemed  to  them  a  decided  tendency  to  mere 
fanaticism  in  the  teachino-s  of  Jesus. 

o 

Observing  this  tendency  on  the  part  of  His  disciples, 
Jesus  takes  occasion,  not  to  abate  any  of  the  high  claims 
which  had  offended  them,  but  to  sm^erest  to  them  that  still 
greater  mysteries  than  any  involved  in  the  doctrines 
just  enunciated  were  to  be  unfolded  in  the  course  of 
His  mission.  He  further  plainly  intimates  that  their  per- 
plexity is  altogether  due  to  their  unbelief  These  great 
truths  were  spiritual,  and  to  be  spiritually  discerned. 
Some  of  the  disciples  comprehended  not,  because  there 
were  some  of  them  that  believed  not.  Seizing  now  upon 
the  occasion  afforded  to  test  the  faith  and  devotion  of  the 
Twelve,  He  asks,  "Will  ye  also  go  away?"  Simon  Peter 
as  the  spokesman  of  the  rest,  answers  with  his  usual 
promptitude,  and  with  a  fulness  of  faith  and  zeal  which 
his  late  experience  of  his  Master's  divine  power  and  love 
had  largely  increased,  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ? 
Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life :  and  we  believe,  and 
are  sure  that  Thou  art  tlie  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living 
God."  The  day-dawn  of  eternal  truth  had  risen  upon  the 
soul  of  Peter;  for  be  believed.  His  Master  accepts  his 
confession  of  faith ;  but,  that  the  Twelve  may  be  upon 
tlieir  guard  against  self-confidence.  He  warns  them  that 


THE    DISCOURSE    AT    CAPERNAUM.  427 

there  is  a  deadly  unbelief  among  them  which  will  yet 
work  out  a  dreadful  apostasy.  Even  now,  though  they 
were  chosen  of  Him,  one  of  their  number  was  a  child  of 
Satan. 

While  our  Lord's  immediate  followers  were  thus  evinc- 
ing the  weakness  of  their  faith,  His  sworn  enemies,  the 
Pharisees,  were  untiring  in  their  efforts  to  find  occasion 
for  prejudicing  the  people  against  Him.  They  soon  found 
what,  with  their  rigid  adhesion  to  ceremonial  usages  and 
the  tradition  of  the  elders,  seemed  a  just  cause  of  com- 
plaint. Some  of  them,  who  with  certain  of  the  scribes 
had  come  down  from  Jerusalem, — doubtless  on  this  very 
business, — following  the  multitudes,  and  w^atching  the 
movements  of  our  Lord  and  His  disciples,  observed  some 
of  the  latter  eating  "wdth  defiled  or  unwashen  hands." 
Regarding  Jesus  as  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  His 
disciples,  they  assumed  that  this  violation  of  their  laws 
was  by  His  instruction,  and  demanded  the  reason  ;  "Why 
walk  not  thy  disciples  according  to  the  tradition  of  the 
elders,  but  eat  bread  wath  unw^ashen  hands?"  Instead 
of  giving  them  an  answ^er,  Jesus  with  great  boldness  re- 
bukes them  as  hypocrites,  applying  to  them  the  w^ords 
of  Isaiah  :  "  This  people  draweth  nigh  unto  me  with  their 
mouth,  and  honoreth  me  with  their  lips ;  but  their  heart 
is  far  from  me."*  He  declares  that,  with  all  their  assump- 
tion of  superior  holiness,  their  worship  was.  utterly  vain  ; 
because  their  teaching  was  absurd  and  wicked.  "For," 
said  He,  "laying  aside  the  commandments  of  God,  ye 
hold  the  tradition  of  men,  as  the  w\ishing  of  pots  and 
cups  and  brazen  vessels  and  tables."  "  You  lay  great  stress 
upon  mere  ceremonial  purity,  and  yet  commandments  of 
the  most  sacred  character,  as  for  example,  'Honor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother,'  you  explain  away  on  the  most 

*  Isaiah  xxix.  13. 


428  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

trivial  grounds,  thus  releasing  children  from  the  most 
sacred  of  all  human  obligations.  Nor  is  this  an  isolated 
case  :  '  Many  such  like  things  do  ye.'  " 

Aware  that  their  sole  object  was  to  accuse  Him  to  the 
people,  he  called  the  multitude  to  Him,  and  in  the  most 
unqualified  terms  made  known  to  them  the  true  doctrine 
of  personal  purity.  "  Hearken  unto  me  every  one  of  you  I' 
said  He,  '"and  understand.  There  is  nothing  from  with- 
out a  man,  that  entering  into  him,  can  defile  him:  but 
the  things  which  come  out  of  him,  those  are  they  that 
defile  the  man.  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear." 
That  is,  "  this  is  no  mere  rabbinical  subtlety,  a  thing  to 
be  disputed  about  and  understood  by  doctors  alone ;  it  is 
a  matter  of  simple  common  sense ;  for  any  man  having 
ears  to  hear  may  comprehend  it.  It  needs  no  argu- 
ment to  show  that,  in  the  sight  of  a  holy  God,  a  man 
stands  or  falls  according  to  his  moral  purity  or  unclean- 
ness,  and  not  according  to  his  bodily  or  ceremonial  condi- 
tion. This  you  might  know  from  your  own  prophets,  for 
one  of  them  has  told  you:  'The  Lord  seeth  not  as  man 
seeth ;  for  man  looketh  on  the  outw\ard  appearance,  but 
the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart' " * 

The  course  pursued  by  Jesus  gave  great  offence  to  the 
Pharisees.  They  felt  that  they  had  been  outwitted. 
Jesus  had  both  conclusively  answered  them,  and  pre- 
possessed the^  multitude  in  His  favor.  The  disciples  re- 
port the  matter  to  Jesus,  and  He  denounces  the  Phari- 
seesto  them  as  "Ijlind  leaders  of  the  blind,"  who  were  des- 
tined to  be  destroyed  with  all  those  who  w^ere  duped  by 
them.  "  Both,"  says  He,  "  shall  fall  into  the  ditch."  He 
then,  in  answer  to  Peter's  inquiry,  mildly  rebukes  His 
disciples  for  their  obtuseness,  in  failing  to  understand  so 
evident  a  principle,  and  proceeds,  not  so  much  to  explain, 


*I.  Samuel  xvi.  7. 


THE    DISCOUKSE    AT    CAPERNAUM.  429 

as  to  expound  Ilis  statement  of  the  true  doctrine.  "Out 
of  the  heart  of  man,"  says  He,  "proceed  evil  thoughts, 
adulteries,  fornications,  thefts,  covetousness,  wickedness, 
deceit,  lasciviousness,  an  evil  eye,  blasphemy,  pride,  fool- 
ishness ;  these  are  the  things  which  defde  a  man ;  but  to 
eat  with  unwasheu  hands  defileth  not  a  man." 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   SYRO-PHEXICIAN  WOMAN. 

JESrS  RETIRES  FOR  RErOSK  TO  THE  BORDERS  OF  TYRE — THE  WOMAN  OF 
SYRO-PHEXICIA — SHE  APPLIES  TO  JESUS — THE  DISCIPLES  BEG  HIM  TO 
SEND  HER  AWAY  —  OUR  LORd'S  RECEPTION  OF  THE  WOMAN — THE 
MEANING  OF  OUR  LORD'S  WORDS — LUTHER's  COMMENT — JESUS  GRANTS 
THE  woman's  request — THE  NARRATIVE  ILLUSTRATES  THE  POAVER 
OF  PRAYER — THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  OBJECTION  TO  THE  USE  OF  PRAYER 
INVALID — WHAT  PREVAILING  PRAYER  MUST  BE — THE  NARRATIVE 
SHOWS    THE    POWER    OF   FAITH — RELATION    OF    FAITH    TO    PRAYER. 

MATTnr.w  IV.  21-28.     JIakk  tii.  24-30. 

The  part  of  our  Lord's  histoiy  on  AYhicli  we  now  enter, 
first  presents  Him  to  our  view  as  exhausted  by  His  inces- 
sant labors  in  preaching  the  kingdom  of  God,  in  the  cities 
and  villages  of  Galilee ;  for  this,  we  conjecture,  was  the 
reason  of  His  withdrawing  from  the  multitude  and  seek- 
ing temporary  seclusion  in  the  northern  extremity  of 
Palestine,  near  the  borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.  There, 
says  the  evangelist,  "  He  entered  into  a  house,  and  would 
have  no  man  know  it;  Init  He  could  not  be  hid." 
Though  the  Son  of  man  needed  rest,  He  could  not  enjoy 
it.  He  was  too  well  known.  He  was  too  closely  watched. 
Even  under  the  shadow  of  Mount  Le})anon,  His  retreat 
was  soon  found  out,  for  tlie  fragrant  ointment  bcwrnyeth 
itself  In  that  secluded  spot  there  was  one  poor  suf- 
ferer,— or  rather  one  blessed  saint, — who  was  attracted  to 
the  Divine  Pedeemcr.     The  interview  between  this  wo- 


TUE    SYEO-PHENICIAN    WOMAN.  431 

man  and  Jesus,  rc^cordod  by  two  of  the  evangelists,  is  very 
touching  and  instructive. 

"A  certain  woman," — thus  the  story  begins.  She  is  for 
us  without  a  name  ;  and  all  we  know  of  her  life  is  what 
we  find  in  six  or  eight  verses  of  the  evangelists.  And 
yet,  she  comes  before  us  with  an  individuality  so  strongly 
marked  and  interesting,  that  we  feel  better  acquainted 
■with  her  than  with  almost  any  other  woman  mentioned 
in  the  New  Testament. 

A  few  circumstances  of  great  importance  to  th-e  effect 
of  the  narrative  are  incidentally  disclosed.  She  was  a 
woman  of  Canaan.  She  was  not  only  a  Gentile,  but  she 
belono;ed  to  the  accursed  race  that  God  had  doomed  to 
utter  destruction.  Mark  tells  us  that  she  was  a  Syro- 
phenician  by  nation,  and  a  Greek;  by  which  we  under- 
stand no  more  than  that  she  was  of  Phenician  blood  and 
by  religion  a  heathen.  She  belonged  to  the  same  race 
with  the  Tyrians,  Sidonians  and  Carthaginians, — a  race 
which  was  in  ancient  times  very  widely  spread  ;  having 
had  colonies  even  in  Spain  and  Britain,  and  v»hicli  thus, 
it  may  be,  contributed  a  not  insignificant  rill  to  the  great 
stream  of  our  Anglo-saxon  blood. 

There  she  had  dwelt  within  sio-ht  of  the  snows  and 
cedars  of  Lebanon;  and, — what  was  of  more  importance, 
—in  the  neighborhood  of  the  worshipers  of  Jehovah. 
Doubtless  she  had  heard  much  concerning  the  true  God ; 
and  it  is  evident  that  she  had  already  ceased  to  be  an 
idolator.  It  is  probable  too,  that  she  had  heard  some- 
thing of  Jesus  the  Prophet  of  Nazareth.  Reports  of  His 
mighty  miracles  and  of  His  wonderful  sayings  must  have 
come  across  the  borders.  Having  a  prepared  and  sus- 
ceptible heart,  she  believed  in  Him  even  before  she  saw 
Him.     So  much  is  implied  in  her  coming  to  Him. 

This  woman  was  in  deep  affliction.  Her  daughter  was 
suffering  under  a  strano-e  and  terrible  disease  which  was 


432  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

not  uncommon  in  that  age  and  country.  She  was,  ac- 
cording to  Matthew,  grievously  vexed  with  a  devil ;  Mark 
has  it,  she  had  an  unclean  spirit.  Medicine  offered  no 
remedy  for  such  a  malady ;  help  could  come  from  God 
alone.  The  mother's  heart  was  agonized: — what  to  do 
for  her  child  ? 

She  heard,  we  know  not  how,  that  Jesus  was  in  the 
neighborhood ;  and  something  told  her  that  He  was  the 
Physician  to  whom  she  must  go.  But  she  must,  one  would 
think,  have  had  a  sore  conflict  before  she  gathered  up 
courage  to  come  to  the  Saviour.  Some  such  train  of 
thought  as  the  following,  must  have  passed  through  her 
mind :  "  Well,  Jesus  the  Nazarene  Prophet,  they  say,  has 
come ;  He  is  yonder,  just  over  the  border.  Now  is  the 
time  to  seek  relief  for  my  poor  child.  It  is  reported  that 
He  has  healed  many  demoniacs  in  Galilee ;  and  that  He 
is  all  gentleness  and  compassion,  and  never  frowns  upon 
a  supplicant.  I  will  go  and  beseech  Him  to  heal  my 
daughter.  But,  stay ;  I  am  a  Gentile — a  Canaanite.  I 
belono;  to  an  accursed  race.  He  is  a  Jew.  Will  He  re- 
ceive  me  ?  Will  He  not  turn  away  from  the  prayer  of  a 
poor  heathen  mother  like  me  ?  How  can  I  go  ?  But  my 
child,  my  darling  daughter !  I  must,  I  will  make  the  at- 
tempt. I  can  but  be  denied  ;  and  my  heart  tells  me  that 
He  is  too  good,  too  mcreifid  to  refuse  the  prayer  of  a 
broken-hearted  mother." 

She  went.  Jesus  chanced  to  be  in  the  highway.  She 
did  not  at  first  venture  near  His  person,  but  cried  out  to 
Him  from  a  distance.  She  probably  felt  unworthy  to  ap- 
proach Him ;  and,  perhaps,  something  of  womanly  timid- 
ity kept  her  back.  But  she  was  in  earnest ;  and  her 
first  words  disclosed  an  intensity  of  desire  and  a  burden 
of  sorrow,  such  as  a  human  heart  can  not  long  bear  with- 
out breaking: — "Have  mercy  on  me,  0  Lord,  Son  of 
David !  Mv  daucrhter  is  crrievouslv  vexed  with  a  devil." 


THE    SYRO-PHENICIAN    WOMAN.  433 

She  acknowledges  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  David ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  Messiah.  She  offers  her  prayer  to  Ilim  as  the 
Christ  of  God, — the  promised  King  of  Israel.  Where  did 
she  get  her  faith  ? — "  Have  mercy  on  me!''  See  how  she 
makes  her  daughter's  misery  her  own. 

To  this  prayer  Jesus  answers  not  a  word.  Neither  does 
He  give  her  any  external  sign  of  encouragement.  Yet 
she  is  not  disheartened,  but  continues  to  cry,  "  Have 
merc}^  on  me."  The  disciples  are  at  length  annoyed. 
Here  is  a  scene, — in  the  highway  too.  This  poor  heathen 
woman  fills  the  air  with  her  cries.  The  affair  is  growing 
indecorous  and  disagreeable.  "Send  her  aw'ay,"  they 
rather  petulantly  suggest  to  their  Master, — "Send  her 
away,  for  she  crieth  after  us."  Give  her  an  answ^er ; 
either  grant  or  deny  her  request,  that  her  clamorous 
importunity  may  cease. 

"  I  am  not  sent,"  was  the  reply,  "  but  to  the  lost  sheep 
of  the  house  of  Israel."  Startling  w^ords  !  was  our  Lord's 
mission  then  limited  to  the  Jews?  Yes,  His  personal 
ministry,  except  in  a  few  cases  clearly  marked  as  excep- 
tions, was  confined  to  the  children  of  the  covenant.  He 
was  first  to  be  a  minister  of  the  circumcision,  to  confirm 
the  promise  made  unto  the  fathers.  Now  and  then,  in- 
deed, as  the  cloud  of  mercy  passed  over  the  chosen  peo- 
ple, some  drops  fell  on  the  Gentiles ;  but  the  way  was 
not  yet  prepared  for  the  indiscriminate  offer  of  redemp- 
tion to  the  nations.  The  Jewish  mind  had  been  in  the 
process  of  training  for  many  ages  for  the  express  purpose 
of  receiving  life  and  light  from  the  incarnate  word,  and 
imparting  them  to  the  Gentiles.  Therefore  Jesus  Him- 
self was  not  sent  except  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house 
of  Israel. 

But  why  did  our  Lord,  on  this  particular  occasion,  de- 
clare the  limitation  of  His  mission  ?     We  shall  see.     The 

disciples  understand  that  the  woman's  prayer  is  denied ; 

28 


434  THE    LIFE    OF    CHrJST. 

but  she  is  encouraged  by  what  silences  them.  She  comes 
near ;  she  falls  at  Ills  feet ;  site  icorships  Him.  This 
Gentile  mother  knows  to  whom  she  makes  her  prayer. 
Jesus  is  to  her,  infinitely  more  than  a  mere  man ;  more 
even  than  the  Son  of  David ;  He  is  her  Lord  and  her 
God  ;  she  adores  Him  ;  and  He  neither  reproves  her,  nor 
declines  the  worship  which  she  offers  Plim.  He  is  silent. 
The  prostrate  supplicant  puts  all  a  mother's  heart  and  all 
'a  Christian's  faith  into  one  sentence:  "Lord,  help  in«!" 
This  expresses  all,  —  her  misery,  her  helplessness,  her 
yearning  desire,  her  trust  in  Christ.  Surely  she  will  now 
receive  a  gracious  answer !  Jesus,  the  burden-bearer  of 
all  humanity,  cannot  resist  an  appeal  like  this !  But 
Avhat  is  it  we  hear  ?  "  Let  the  children  first  be  filled  ;  for 
it  is  not  meet  to  take  the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  to 
dogs  ! "  Alas  !  are  these  the  words  of  Him  of  whom  it  is 
written,  "  He  shall  not  break  the  bruised  reed,  nor  quench 
the  smoking  flax?"*  Is  it  like  Him  who  is  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart,  to  call  an  afilicted  mother,  pleading  for 
the  life  and  salvation  of  her  child,  a  dog?  Is  it  like 
Jesus,  the  Friend  of  sinners,  to  thrust  away  a  poor  sup- 
pliant at  His  feet  with  words  of  contempt  and  abhorrence? 

Somehow  the  woman  herself  saw  neither  severity  nor 
discouragement  in  this  answer.  Evidently  there  is  a 
secret  understanding  between  our  Lord  and  this  Gentile. 
One  is  almost  ready  to  believe  that  His  looks  contra- 
dicted His  words ;  that  He  spoke  to  her  with  such  a  gra- 
cious smile,  that  she  was  encouraged  to  keep  on  pleading. 

Yet  there  was  a  great  tnitli  in  what  He  said.  The 
blessings  of  Messiah's  kingdom, — miracles  of  healing  and 
heavenly  doctrine, — were  as  yet  the  children's  bread ; 
they  belonged,  as  yet,  to  the  children  of  Abraham ;  for 
the  time  had  not  come  to  spread  the  feast  for  all.     This 

*  Isaiah  xlii.  3. 


THE    SYEO-niENICIAN    WOMAN".  435 

tlic  supplicant  miderstands ;  but  she  is  far  from  being 
disheartened.  In  the  beautiful  language  of  another: — 
"  Many,  even  if  they  had  persevered  thus  for,  would  now 
have  gone  away  in  anger  or  despair.  Not  so  this  woman. 
She,  from  the  very  word  which  seemed  to  make  most 
against  her,  with  the  ready  wit  of  faith,  drew  an  argu- 
ment in  her  own  favor.  She  entangled  the  Lord — Him- 
self most  willing  to  be  so  entangled, — in  His  own  speech. 
'  Yes,  Lord ;  yet  the  dogs  under  the  table  eat  of  the 
children's  crumbs.'  Upon  these  words,  Luther,  who  has 
dwelt  on  all  the  circumstances  of  this  little  history  with 
a  peculiar  love,  and  who  seems  never  weary  of  extolling 
the  mighty  faith  of  this  woman,  exclaims  :  '  Was  not  that 
a  master-stroke  ?  She  snares  Christ  in  His  own  words.' 
Didst  thou  say  '  dogs  ?'  It  is  well ;  I  accept  the  title  and 
the  place ;  for  the  dogs  are  attached  to  the  household, 
and  have  a  portion  of  the  meal,  not  the  first,  not  the 
children's  portion,  but  still — a  j^orfion — the  crumbs  wdiich 
fall  from  the  table.  In  this  very  statement  of  the  case 
Thou  bringest  us  heathen.  Thou  bringest  me  within  the 
circle  of  the  blessing-s  which  the  Divine  Householder  dis- 
penses  to  liis  familj^  We  also  belong  to  His  household, 
though  we  occupy  the  lowest  place  in  it.  According  to 
thine  own  showing,  I  am  not  wholly  an  alien.  I  abide  by 
this  name,  dog,  therefore,  I  claim  the  crumbs."*  Thus 
ends  the  argument. 

Oh,  could  we  have  witnessed  what  followed !  Suddenly 
the  Sun  of  Divine  Love,  which  had  been  under  momentary 
eclipse,  broke  forth,  and  shone  full  on  the  Syro-Phenician 
mother.  "0  woman,"  said  Jesus,  "great  is  thy  faith-;  be 
it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt.  Go  thy  way ;  the  devil 
is  gone  out  of  thy  daughter."  Oh,  joy  to  thee,  thou 
"preciqus  winner!"     Hasten  to  thy  house, — now  again 

*  Trench  on  Miracles,  page  271. 


436  TKE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

thy  sweet  home, — and  fold  thy  daughter  in  thine  arms. 
She  shall  be  to  thee  a  living  memorial  of  that  blessed 
moment  when  thou  didst  prevail  with  the  Son  of  David, 
to  antedate  the  da}^  of  salvation  to  the  Gentiles ;  when 
thou  didst  receive  from  His  hands,  not  a  crumb,  but  a  full 
loaf,  even  according  to  the  utmost  desire  of  thy  heart. 
We  shall  doubtless  hear  more  of  the  story  of  thy  Saviour's 
goodness  and  thine  exceeding  gladness,  when  we  meet 
thee,  "some  summer  morning,"  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan. 

This  narrative  displays,  in  the  clearest  light,  the  blessed 
truth  that  God  hears  the  prayers  of  the  humble  and  needy. 
The  frigid,  self-styled  philosopher,  his  face  sharpened  into  a 
cj'nical  sneer,  tells  us  that  jDrayer  may  possibly  benefit  the 
supplicant  himself;  but  that  it  is  absurd  to  supj^ose  that 
it  will  have  any  persuasive  influence  on  the  unchangeable 
Euler  of  the  w^orld,  or  make  any  difference  in  the  course  of 
events.  The  world  is  governed  by  invariable  laws  which 
can  never  be  set  aside  in  accordance  with  the  requests  of 
puny  insects  like  men.  And  so  the  spruce  objector  goes 
his  way,  leaving  us,  as  he  imagines,  utterly  confounded. 

We  could  have  told  him  that  the  johilosophy  of  which 
he  boasts,  is  puerile  and  delusive  ;  that  the  unchangeable- 
ness  of  God  is  the  uncliano:eableness  of  a  person,  self- 
conscious,  intelligent,  free,  benevolent,  and  therefore  an 
unchangeableness  in  itself  an  encouragement  to  prayer  j 
that  the  laws  of  nature  are  living  and  flexible,  yielding  to 
the  impulses  not  only  of  the  Infinite  Will  but  also  of  crea- 
ture-wills ;  and  therefore  interposing  no  obstacle  to  the  be- 
stowiiient  of  benefits  in  answer  to  prayer;  that  prayer 
was^  from  the  beginning  ordained  by  God  as  a  means  for 
accomplishing  Ilis  sovereign  purposes,  and  that  therefore 
the  government  of  the  world  could  not  go  on  without  it: 
we  could  have  told  the  objector  all  this  and  more. 

But  we  gladly  shun  the  thorny  maze  of  metaphysics, 
and  at  once  silence  all  cavils  and  remove  all  misgivings 


THE    SYRO-rnENICIAN    WOMAN.  437 

by  pointing  to  Jesus,  the  Redeemer,  who  came  into  the 
world  to  manifest  the  Father's  heart,  saying:  "He  that 
hath  seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father."  We  remind  you  that 
at  all  times  He  encouraged  the  poor,  the  sinful,  and  the 
sorrowing  to  come  to  Him  as  supplicants.  In  vain  do  you 
tell  us  of  a  God  immutably  cold  and  indiflerent  to  the 
wants  and  sorrows  of  men,  while  we  see  Jesus,  cleansing 
the  kneeling  leper,  opening  the  eyes  of  importunate 
Bartimeus,  healing  the  centurion's  servant,  raising  from 
the  dead  the  daughter  of  Jairus,  restoring  the  dumb 
but  eloquent  paralytic,  assuring  the  weeping  Magda- 
len of  forgiveness,  and  saying  to  the  penitent,  praying 
thief,  "This  day  slialt  thou  be  with  Me  in  Paradise." 
Especially,  on  this  occasion,  I  lead  the  objector  to  that 
memorable  spot  on  the  borders  of  the  benighted  Gentile 
world,  where  the  Saviour  of  mankind  said  to  a  poor, 
nameless  heathen  woman :  "  Be  it  unto  thee  even  as 
thou  wilt,"  Yes ;  I  point  to  Him  who  never  turned  away 
a  supplicant,  and  exclaim  :  "  Behold,  my  God  !  Lo,  He 
heareth  prayer!"  Whole  volumes  of  metaphysical  de- 
monstrations shall  weigh  lighter  against  one  such  fact  as 
this,  than  the  dust  of  the  summer  threshing-floor  against 
great  mountains.  And  all  the  philosophers  in  the  world, 
leagued  with  the  subtlest  spirits  of  darkness,  shall  not 
rob  my  heart  of  its  faith  in  this  promise, — "  Ask  and  ye 
shall  receive ;  seek  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock  and  it  shall 
be  opened  unto  you ;  for  every  one  that  asketh  receiveth ; 
and  he  that  seeketh  findeth ;  and  to  him  that  knocketh 
it  shall  be  opened." 

This  narrative  teaches  us  ivhat  hind  of  prayer  is  sure 
to  prevail  with  God.  Strange  that  we  should  be  sent 
to  school  to  this  Syro-Phenician  woman,  to  learn  how 
to  pray ;  but  if  arny  human  being  ever  understood  the 
art,  she  understood  it;  and  she  is  still,  after  the  lapse 
of  eighteen  hundred  years,  the  model  supplicant. 


438  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIIUST. 

What  first  strikes  us  is,  that  slie  was  in  earnest.  She 
came  to  Jesus  with  a  heart  burdened  with  a  great  sor- 
row and  a  great  desire.  She  is  too  much  in  earnest  to 
pay  any  attention  to  the  proprieties  of  style ;  she  never 
thinks  of  liturgical  etiquette ;  her  prayer  is  aljrupt,  im- 
passioned, agonizing ;  she  a^ies  out  after  Christ,  in  the 
public  way ;  she  follows  after  Him,  still  crying,  "  have 
mercy  on  me,  0  Lord  ! "  She  draws  near  Him,  in  her 
anguish  of  spirit ;  she  falls  at  His  feet;  she  worships  Him. 
She  has  one  thing  to  ask,  and  in  asking  for  that  she  em- 
ploys no  artifice  of  language,  but  rather 

The  simplest  form  of  speech 
That  infant  lips  can  try. 

Thus  it  is  that  prevailing  prayer  is  always  offered. 
The  petition  wdiich  goes  up  from  a  heart  breaking  with 
its  own  unutterable  longing,  pierces  the  heavens.  There 
is  an  energy  in  holy  desire  which  makes  the  prayer 
prompted  by  it  irresistible. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  highest  acts  of  prayer  are 
marked  by  serene  tranquilit}^  of  spirit ;  that  the  agony  of 
painful  desire  belongs  to  a  low,  not  to  say  morbid  spirit- 
ual state ;  that  perfect  acquiescence  in  the  divine  will 
would  preclude  wrestling  at  the  throne  of  grace  ;  that  un- 
wavering faith  would  keep  the  heart  free  from  solicitu(ie 
and  sorrow,  even  thoagh  the  particular  blessing  sought 
for  should  be  withheld.  Whatever  grains  of  truth  may 
be  contained  in  such  speculations,  the  view,  as  a  whole, 
is  at  war  with  Scripture  and  the  facts  of  Christian  ex- 
perience. Our  blessed  Lord  was  sinless  and  perfect,  yet 
when  He  prajed  in  the  garden.  He  was  in  an  agony,  and 
sweat,  as  it  w^ere,  great  drops  of  blood  falling  down  to 
the  ground.  The  holiest  men  whom  the  church  has  ever 
held  in  her  couimnnion, — we  speak  with  reverence, — 
have  drunk  of  the  cup  of  Christ;  each  has  had  his  Geth- 


THE    bYllO-PIIENICIAN    WOMAN.  4^0 

semane ;  each  has  had  moments  of  awful  anguish,  when 
his  soul  seemed  exceedingly  sorrowful  even  unto  death. 

The  Syro-Phenician  woman  is  an  example  o^  faith.  It 
is  this  which  Jesus  Himself  commends  :  "  0  woman,  great 
is  thy  faitlC  Her  faith  indeed  was  very  extraordinary. 
Her  very  coming  to  Jesus  was  an  act  of  heroic  faith ;  for 
she  came  not  only  without  an  invitation  or  a  promise,  but 
in  the  face  of  fearful  discouragements.  Somehow  she  had 
gained  a  firm  persuasion  that  He  was  both  able  and  willing 
to  help  her.  She  believed  beforehand  in  His  love  to  her, 
a  poor  Gentile  mother  5  and  this  was  great  faith  indeed. 

This  faith  of  hers  grew  stronger,  and  shone  more 
brightly  through  the  progress  of  a  trial  which  Vv^ould 
have  utterly  extinguished  that  of  any  ordinary  believer. 
When  she  came  to  Jesus  she  was  not  encouraged  by  gra- 
cious looks  and  words ;  but  she  prayed.  He  answered 
her  not  a  word ;  but  she  prayed.  He  spoke  at  last  in 
words  apparently  calculated  to  extinguish  all  her  hopes ; 
but  she  prayed.  He  called  her  a  dog ;  but  still  she 
prayed  and  made  that  very  name  the  ground  of  her  final, 
triumphant  appeal.  Thus  her  faith  grew  stronger  by  the 
discouragements  it  encountered. 

Now  this  faith  is  what  makes  prayer  mighty  and  vic- 
torious ;  for  it  is  this  alone  which  brings  us  into  that 
living  sympathy  with  God  in  which  lies  the  possibility 
and  prevailing  power  of  prayer.  The  prayer  of  faith  is 
importunate  and  persevering,  unselfish  and  without  re- 
gard to  iniquity  ;  it  draws  its  arguments  from  the  Word 
and  promise  of  God  ;  it  appeals  to  His  love  and  compas- 
sion ;  it  makes  mention  of  His  holy  Name,  and  seeks  His 
glory ;  it  pleads  the  merits  of  the  ascended  and  ever-liv- 
ing High  Priest,  and  rests  in  His  gracious  intercession. 
In  a  word,  it  oflfers  the  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  the 
righteous  man  which  availeth  much.  So  prayed  the 
Syro-Phenician  woman.     Lord,  teach  us  thus  to  pray! 


CHAPTER    IV. 

JOURNEY  THROUGH  ZIDON  AND  DECAPOLIS  TO  THE  SEA 

OF   GALILEE. 

"EPHPHATIIA!" — FEEDING  OF  THE  FOUR  THOUSAND — PHARISEES  SEEK  A 
SIGN — WARNING  AGAINST  THE  PHARISAIC  LEAVEN — HEALING  OF  THE 
BLIND  MAN  AT  BETHSAIDA — PETEu's  CONFESSION — JESUS  FORETELLS 
UIS    DEATH   AND    RESURRECTION. 

Matthew  xv.  29-39;  xvi.  1-28.    Mark  vii.  31-37;  vm.  1-38.    Luke  ix.  18-27. 

After  the  events  narrated  in  the  last  chapter,  there 
was,  in  that  region,  no  longer  any  seclusion  or  repose  for 
our  Lord;  and  He  therefore  continued  His  journey.  There 
seems  good  reason  for  believing  that  His  route  led  first 
northward,  through  the  territory  of  Zidon ;  thence  along 
the  southern  slope  of  Lebanon,  and  under  the  shadow  of 
the  snowy  Hermon,  to  the  Jordan,*  which  He  crossed,  and, 
passing  southward  through  Decapolis,  reached  the  lake 
of  Gennesaret,  on  its  eastern  shore.  How  long  He  wan- 
dered among  those  mountain  solitudes  is  not  recorded ; 
but  the  motive  which  prompted  the  journey  is  obvious. 
He  sought  rest.  There  is,  besides,  abundant  evidence 
that  Jesus  loved  the  mountains.  While  we  do  not  at- 
tribute to  Him  the  sentiment  which,  in  our  own  age, 
hungers  for  grand  and  beautiful  scenery  as  for  the  bread 
of  life,  we  doubt  not  that  the  Son  of  Man  delighted  in 
those  objects  and  aspects  of  the  material  world  which 

*This  view  rests  on  Tischendorf' s  text  of  Mark  vii.  31.  "  Departing 
from  the  coasts  of  Tyre  He  came  throujh  Zidon  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee." 


:i«h!! (iiiiiii il;,r"i.!;:  ii:;r.. 


I    ii; 


mi 


ill' I  lillllilli 


1; 


if': 


ij  I     -M 


■  i! 


JOURNEY    TIIPtOUGn    ZIDON   AND    DECAPOLIS.         441 

especially  displayed  the  wisdom,  power,  and  majesty  of 
God.  We  doubt  not  that  the  mountain  air  invigorated 
His  worn  and  weary  body;  and  that  the  sight  of  alpine 
heights,  clothed  with  primeval  forests  or  crowned  with 
perpetual  snow,  refreshed  and  gladdened  His  heart.  It 
is  probable  that  He  improved  the  opportunity  offered  l)y 
these  days  of  seclusion,  to  instruct  His  disci})les  moi'c  per- 
fectly in  the  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 

The  region  called  Decapolis, — originally  a  small  terri- 
tory lying  to  the  east,  and  south-east  of  Lake  Gennesaret, 
— was,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  a  province  of  considerable 
extent,  stretching  from  Damascus  on  the  north  to  Phila- 
delphia on  the  south.  It  was  a  portion  of  the  Holy  Land 
of  which  the  Jews,  after  the  captivity,  had  failed  to  gain 
possession ;  and  which  was,  in  consequence,  inhabited  by 
Gentiles.  The  Ten  Cities,  indeed,  had  been  rebuilt  and 
partially  colonized  by  the  Romans ;  and  were  probably 
strongholds  of  paganism.  Jesus  was,  therefore,  in  the 
midst  of  Gentiles,  though  He  seems  not  to  have  preached 
to  them,  or  made  Himself  known  as  the  Saviour  of  the 
world. 

It  was  probably  when  He  came  into  that  portion  of 
Decapolis  where  He  had  healed  the  demoniac  of  Gadara, 
that  He  was  recognized  by  the  people,  and  was  solicited 
to  heal  a  man  who  was  not  only  deaf  but  almost  dumb. 
He  was  certainly  not  a  demoniac,  but  a  sufferer  from 
disease  or  natural  obstruction.  Jesus  regarded  him  with 
pity,  but  not  wishing  to  create  excitement  among  the 
people,  already  congregating,  took  him  aside,  "and  put  His 
fingers  in  his  ears,  and  He  spit,  and  touched  his  tongue : 
and  looking  up  to  heaven.  He  sighed,  and  saith  unto  him, 
Ephphatha,  that  is.  Be  opened." 

The  sighing  of  Jesus  and  the  lifting  up  of  His  eyes  to 
heaven,  recorded  by  the  graphic  Mark,  are  very  suggest- 
ive and  touching.     They  bring  before  our  eyes  the  great 


442  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

Burclen-bearer  of  liimianity,  weary  of  His  mighty  load, 
and  appealing  to  the  Father  for  support  and  consolation. 
Weary,  however,  as  He  Mas  in  carrying  on  His  heart  the 
sins  and  sicknesses  of  men.  He  did  not  turn  aside  from 
His  work.  In  His  own  person  was  a  fountain  of  healing 
virtue — a  fountain  inexhaustible  and  free.  When  He  put 
His  fiiiirers  in  the  deaf  man's  ears,  the  deadened  nerve 
was  restored ;  and  when  He  touched  the  infirm  and  stam- 
mering tongue,  it  spake  plainl3^  Let  deaf  mutes  and 
stammerers  know  that  they  are  regarded  by  the  Divine 
Ph^-sician  with  compassion. 

This  miracle,  though  Jesus  commanded  that  it  should 
be  kept  secret,  was  soon  noised  abroad,  and  produced  a 
prodigious  excitement  among  the  peoj)le  of  the  region. 
'•  He  does  all  things  well,"  they  said ;  or  He  makes  all 
icell  again  ;  "  He  maketh  both  the  deaf  to  hear,  and  the 
dumb  to  speak."  What  happened  so  often  in  Galilee, 
now  occurred  in  Decapolis;  the  multitude,  hearing  of 
the  miracle,  brought  the  lame,  blind,  dumb,  and  sick,  and 
laid  them  at  Jesus'  feet,  and  He  healed  them  all. 

The  place  of  concourse  was  on  the  highlands  overlook- 
ing the  Sea  of  Galilee — a  wilderness  or  desert.  Jesus, 
having  had  the  multitude  with  Him  now  three  days,  saw 
that  many  of  them  were  hungry  and  ready  to  faint.  In 
the  fulness  of  His  compassion.  He  provided  food  for  four 
thousand,  by  miraculously  multiplying  seven  loaves  and 
a  few  little  fishes.  When  all  had  satisfied  their  hunger, 
the  disciples  gathered  seven  baskets  full  of  the  fragments 
that  remained.  Though  this  miracle  differs,  in  several 
important  circumstances,  from  a  similar  one  narrated  in 
a  recent  chapter,*  it  calls  for  no  special  exposition. 

Having  dismissed  the  multitude,  Jesus  passed  over  the 
lake  to  a  place  on  the  western  coast,  called  Dalmanutha, 

*Sec  Chapter!.,  Part  VII. 


JOURNEY    TUROUGH    ZIDOX    AND    DECAPOLIS.         443 

in  tliG  tcrritorj  of  Magdala*  On  His  arrival,  His  ever- 
watchful  enemies,  the  Pharisees,  immediately  assailed 
Him  with  ensnaring  questions,  desiring  Him,  among  other 
things,  to  show  them  a  sign  from  heaven.  His  answer 
was  in  language  of  fearfid  rebuke  :  "  When  it  is  evening 
ye  say,  It  Avill  be  fair  w^eather,  for  the  sky  is  red.  And 
in  the  morning,  It  will  be  foul  weather  to-day ;  for  the 
sky  is  red  and  lowering.  0  ye  hypocrites,  ye  can  discern 
the  face  of  the  sky,  but  can  ye  not  discern  the  signs  of 
the  times  ?  A  wicked  and  adulterous  generation  seeketh 
after  a  sign ;  and  there  shall  no  sign  be  given  it,  but  the 
sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas."  Those  who  were  blind  to 
all  the  overpowering  proofs  which  Jesus  had  already 
given  of  His  divine  mission,  but,  moved  by  a  mere  appe- 
tite for  marvels,  demanded  some  stupendous  but  useless 
sign  from  heaven,  should  be  left  to  their  own  unbelief 
With  an  enigmatical  hint  touching  His  resurrection,  He 
abruptly  departed. 

Again  taking  ship,  Jesus  seems  to  have  touched  at  vari- 
ous points  along  the  coast,  till  He  came  to  the  city  of 
Bethsaida.  There  a  blind  man  was  brought  to  Him  to 
be  healed.  Having  led  the  man  out  of  the  town.  He 
anointed  his  eyes  with  saliva,  put  His  hands  on  him,  and 
asked  him  if  he  saw  aught.  "  I  see  men,"  he  replied,  "  as 
trees  walking."  That  is  to  say,  his  vision  was  not  yet 
clear  and  distinct.  Jesus  again  put  His  hands  on  his 
eyes,  and  bade  him  look  up.     The  cure  was  complete. 

The  miracle,  in  this  case,  was  doubtless  instantaneous ; 
but  the  man's  own  consciousness  was  so  confused  and  his 
faith  so  imperfect,  that  he  had  not,  at  once,  the  full  use 
of  his  restored  organ.     That  the  cure  proceeded,  in  this 

*It  is  assumed  by  some  writers,  I  know  not  on  what  grounrls,  that  Jesus 
having  touched  at  Dalmanutha,  sailed  to  Capernaum,  and  that  there  His 
interview  with  the  Pharisees  took  place.  It  seems  probable  to  me  that,  at 
this  time,  our  Lord  avoided  Capernaum. 


4-4-4  THE    LIFE    OF    CIirJST. 

case,  as  in  all  others,  from  the  healing  virtue  in  the  2)erson 
of  Christ,  is  apparent  from  the  laying  on  of  His  hands 
and  the  application  of  His  saliva  to  the  diseased  parts. 

From  Bethsaida  Jesus  seems  to  have  journeyed  to 
Cesarea  Philippi.  This  city,  named  by  Herod  the  Great 
Cesarca,  in  honor  of  Augustus  Caesar,  and  by  Herod's  son, 
the  tetrarch  Philip,  Cesarea  Philippi,  partly  after  himself, 
was  situated  on  a  limestone  terrace  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Hermon,  at  the  easternmost  and  most  important  of  the 
sources  of  the  Jordan.  Says  Josephus,  "Herod,  having 
accompanied  Ccesar  to  the  sea  and  returned  home,  erected 
him  a  beautiful  temple  of  white  marble,  near  the  place 
called  Panium.  This  is  a  fine  cavern  in  a  mountain;  un- 
der which  there  is  a  great  cavity  in  the  earth ;  and  the 
cavern  is  abrupt,  and  very  deep  and  full  of  water.  Over 
it  hangs  a  vast  mountain ;  and  under  the  mountain  rise 
the  springs  of  the  river  Jordan."*  Dr.  Robinson's  de- 
scription is  also  well  worth  quoting :  "  The  situation  is 
unique,  combining  in  an  unusual  degree  the  elements  of 
grandeur  and  beauty.  It  nestles  in  its  recess  at  the 
southern  base  of  the  mighty  Hermon,  which  towers  in 
majesty  to  an  elevation  7000  or  8000  feet  above.  The 
abundant  waters  of  the  glorious  fountain  spread  over  the 
terrace  luxuriant  fertility,  and  the  graceful  interchange 
of  copse,  lawn  and  waving  fields."  f 

It  was  near  this  city  that  an  important  conversation 
between  Christ  and  His  apostles  occurred.  As  He  was 
prayiuii;  in  a  secluded  place.  He  asked  them,  "Whom  do 
men  say  that  I,  the  Son  of  Man,  am?"  The  disciples, — 
who  doubtless  mingled  more  freely  with  the  people  than 
their  Master, — replied:  "Some  say  that  Thou  art  John 
the  Baptist  ;  some.  Elijali  ;  and  others,  Jeremiah,  or  one 
of  the  prophets."     Doubtless  they  correctly  reported  the 

*.Topoph.  Antiq.,  cli:ip.  xv.,  papje  10,  section  B. 
t  Robinson's  Researches,  volume  3,  page  404. 


JOURNEY    THROUGH    ZiDOX    AND    DECAl'OLIS.         445 

various  opinions  they  had  heard  expressed ;  and  doubt- 
less those  opinions  indicated  the  kind  of  impression  whicli 
Jesus  had  made  on  the  popular  mind.  That  Jesus  was  not 
only  a  prophet  but  much  more  than  a  common  prophet, 
the  people  had  no  doubt ;  they  did  not,  however,  believe 
in  Him  as  the  Messiah,  but  rather  as  a  forerunner  of  the 
Messiah.  As  Elijah  was  to  come  before  the  Christ,  some 
were  inclined  to  believe  that  he  had  appeared  in  Jesus. 
Others,  fancying  perhaps  that  they  discerned  in  Jesus  a 
tenderness  and  sorrow  more  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of 
the  weej)ing  prophet,  thought  he  was  Jeremiah.  Still 
others — and  probably,  the  larger  number — did  not  hesi- 
tate to  avow  the  conviction  that  He  was  John  the  Baptist 
risen  from  the  dead.  Their  Messiah  was  to  be  a  conquer- 
ing prince,  rather  than  a  lowly  prophet  and  healer ;  and 
they  therefore  regarded  Jesus  as  one  sent  to  prepare  his 
way  before  him.  Our  Lord  well  knew  how  little  He  was 
understood  by  the  multitude ;  but  the  time  had  come  for 
Him  to  elicit  from  His  own  immediate  followers  an  ex- 
plicit confession  of  their  faith.  Therefore  He  said  to 
them :  "  But  Avhom  say  ye  that  I  am  ?'"  It  is  not  quite 
certain  that  all  the  apostles  would  have  been  ready  Avith 
an  answer,  if  Peter  had  not,  as  usual,  spoken  for  them. 
That  they  believed  Him  to  be  the  Christ  is  certain ;  but 
that  they  all  had  a  clear  and  definite  faith  in  His  divinity 
is  doubtful.  Perhaps  this  was  the  moment  when  their 
adoring  reverence  and  love  crystallized  into  intelligent 
conviction.  Peter  seems  to  have  been  among  the  first 
to  penetrate  the  great  mystery  of  godliness,  God  mani- 
fest IN  THE  FLESH.  Hcncc  his  prompt  reply,  "Thou  art 
the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  That  he  intended 
to  profess  his  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  only  begotten  Son  of 
God — that  is  to  say,  that  he  intended  to  recognize 'the 
Lord  as  a  Divine  Person,  is  evident  from,  the  fact  that 
otherwise   his  confession  would  have  set  forth  nothing 


44G  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

new — notliing  "svliicli  had  not  been  held  by  all  the  disci- 
ples from  the  beginning.  Andrew  had  said  to  Peter  at 
Bethabara,  "We  have  found  the  Messiah;"  and  Nathaniel 
had  said  to  Jesus  Himself,  "  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God ; 
Thou  art  the  King  of  Israel."  But  neither  Andrew  nor 
Nathaniel  had  any  definite  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  eternal 
Son  of  God  incarnate ;  and  this  was  precisely  what  Peter 
confessed.  "  He  saw  bodily  before  him,  in  Jesus,  the  re- 
flection of  the  living  God,  who  fills  the  universe,  the  coun- 
terpart of  the  Deity,  notwithstanding  that  Pie,  as  the  Son 
of  man,  looked  more  like  some  poor  fugitive  than  the 
Messianic  King.  In  this  confession  he  goes  beyond  any 
conception  of  the  Messiah  which  was  current  among 
the  Jews,  and  far  beyond  it."*  In  fact,  Peter,  in  these 
words,  put  himself  beyond  the  pale  of  the  existing  Jew- 
ish church ;  he  disengaged  himself  from  the  religious 
system  of  the  whole  nation  ;  and  he  uttered,  in  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  the  strength  of  a  full  and  joy- 
ous faith,  the  great  truth  on  which  the  church  of  the  new 
covenant  is  built.  Hence,  the  answer  of  Jesus  is  in  words 
of  exultant  cono-ratulation  and  benediction:  "Blessed  art 
thou,  Simon,  son  of  Jonas ;  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not 
revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 
And  I  say  also  unto  thee,  that  thou  art  Peter,  and  on  this 
rock  I  will  build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall 
not  prevail  against  it.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven ;  and  whatsoever 
thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  bo  loosed  in  heaven." 

The  faith  of  Peter  was  not  the  fruit  of  human  culture, 
but  of  immediate  divine  illumination.  It  was  hy  super- 
natural revelation  that  he  had  been  enabled  to  discern 
the  divine  in  Jesus,  and  it  was  by  a  supernatural  impulse 

*Lange's  "Life  of  Clirl.'-t,"  volume  3,  page  2.31. 


JOURNEY    TUKOUGIl    ZIDON    AND    DECArOLIS.         447 

that  lie  had  made  this  bold  and  explicit  confession.  And 
therefore  does  Jesus  pronounce  him  blessed  or  happy. 
The  name,  Peter,  man  of  rock,  had  been  prophetically 
given  him  at  Bethabara  ;*  but  now  it  was  applied  to  him 
as  significant  of  the  strength  and  endurance  of  his  fiiitli. 
Our  Lord  goes  on  to  declare  that  on  Peter,  who,  by  virtue 
of  his  faith  so  boldly  confessed  was  a  "  living  stone,"  He 
would  build  His  church.  In  fact,  the  apostle  "was  the 
first  of  iho^Q  foundation-stones  on  which  the  living  temple 
of  God  was  built :  this  building  itself  beginning  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost  by  the  laying  of  three  thousand  living 
stones  on  this  foundation."!  Further,  our  Lord  gave  to 
Peter  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  and  he  was 
in  fact  the  first  to  open  the  kingdom  both  to  the  Jews 
and  Gentiles.  The  power  of  binding  and  loosing,  signifies 
the  authority  given  to  Peter  then  and  there  representing 
all  the  apostles,  to  govern  the  church  on  earth.  That 
Peter  was  to  have  any  successor  in  his  functions  as  a 
living  foundation-stone,  as  the  bearer  of  the  keys,  as 
binder  and  looser,  or  even  as  apostle,  is  not  intimated, 
either  in  this  or  any  other  saying  of  our  Lord. 

Respecting  the  church  which  should  thus  be  built  on 
Peter,  our  Lord  declares  that  the  gates  of  hell — that  is  to 
say,  the  power  of  the  kingdom  of  hell — should  not  pre- 
vail against  it.  Peter,  the  rock,  rests  on  the  Rock  of  ages ; 
and  the  edifice  built  thereon  shall  stand  forever. 

The  effect  of  our  Lord's  commendation  of  Peter  seems 
at  first  to  have  been  hurtful  to  his  humility.  The  very 
next  incident  recorded  of  him  is  that  he  took  it  upon  him 
to  tutor  and  rebuke  his  Master,  whom  he  had  just  con- 
fessed as  the  Son  of  the  livins:  God.     The  occasion  was 

o 

this.  Jesus,  still  in  the  region  of  Cesarea  Philippi,  "  began 
to  show  unto  His  disciples  that  He  must  go  unto  Jeru- 

*  Matthew  xvi.  18.  fAlford. 


448  THE    LIFE    OF    ClIKIST. 

salem,  and  sufler  many  things  of  the  elders,  and  chief 
priests,  and  scribes,  and  be  killed,  and  be  raised  again  the 
third  day."  This  was  what  Peter  could  not  understand 
or  believe ;  for  he  could  not  as  yet  conceive  how  the 
Clirlst,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  should  suffer  and  die. 
Notwithstanding  his  spiritual  illumination,  he  saw  divine 
things  as  the  blind  man  of  Bethsaida,  at  the  moment  of 
his  cure,  saw  men  as  trees  walking.  If  the  prophets  could 
not  understand  tlieir  own  prevision  of  the  sufferings  of 
Christ  and  the  glory  that  should  follow,*  it  is  scarcely 
surprising  that  Peter  should  have  been  perplexed  and 
disturbed  by  the  disclosures  of  Christ  touching  His  death 
and  resurrection.  But  his  unseemly  presumption  in  con- 
tradicting and  rebuking  his  Master — "  Be  it  far  from  Thee, 
Lord ;  this  shall  not  be  unto  Thee " — this  is  amazing. 
The  answer  of  Christ  must  have  made  the  ears  of  the 
apostle  to  tingle  to  his  dying  day:  "Get  thee  behind 
Me,  Satan ;  thou  art  an  offense  unto  Me ;  for  thou  savor- 
est  not  the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  those  that  be  of 
men."  Turning  to  His  disciples.  He  said,  "  If  any  man 
will  come  after  Me,  let  him  deny  himself  and  take  up 
Lis  cross  and  follow  Me.  For  whosoever  will  save  his 
life,  shall  lose  it;  and  whosoever  will  lose  his  life  for 
My  sake,  shall  find  it.  For  what  is  a  man  profited,  if  he 
shall  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?  or 
what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ?  For  the 
Son  of  Man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  His  Father,  with 
His  angels ;  and  then  shall  He  reward  every  man  accord- 
ing to  his  works.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  there  be  some 
standing  here,  who  shall  not  taste  of  death  till  they  see 
the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  His  kingdom." 

The  meaning  of  this  closing  prediction  was  made  clear 
about  one  week  after  it  was  uttered. 

♦T.  Peter  i.  11. 


CHAPTER    V. 
THE   TRANSFIGURATION. 

MOUNT  HERMON — JESUS  TAKES  THE  THREE  DISCIPLES  AND  RETIRES  TO 
THE  MOUNT — OCCASION  FOR  THIS  ACT — WHY  HE  CHOSE  PETER,  JAMES 
AND  JOHN — THE  TRANSFIGURATION — FORCE  OF  THE  WORD  TRANSFIG- 
URED— APPEARANCE  OF  MOSES  AND  ELIAS  ON  THE  SCENE — OUR  LORD'S 
CONFERENCE  WITH  THEM — PETER's  PROPOSITION — THE  OVERSHADOW- 
ING CLOUD — THE  DIVINE  VOICE — JESUS  REJOINS  THE  DISCIPLES  AND 
ENJOINS  SECRECY  UPON  THEM — THE  TRANSFIGURATION  A  REPRESENT- 
ATION OF  CHRIST'S  TRUE  GLORY — ALSO  FORESHADOWS  HIS  APPEARANCE 
IN   HEAVEN — TRANSFIGURATION    OF    THE     SAINTS. 

Matthew  xyii  1-13.    Make  ix.  2-13.    Luke  ix.  28-36. 

Oisr  the  extreme  northern  boundary  of  Palestine  lies  an 
extensive  mountain  region ;  its  lofty  double  range  rising 
like  a  rocky  barrier,  between  Syria  and  the  Holy  Land. 
"From  the  moment,"  says  Stanley,  "that  the  traveler 
reaches  the  plain  of  Shechem  in  the  interior,  nay,  even 
from  the  depths  of  the  Jordan  valley  by  the  Dead  Sea, 
the  snowy  heights  of  Hermon  are  visible.  The  ancient 
names  of  its  double  range  are  all  significant  of  this  posi- 
tion. It  was  '  Zion,'  '  the  upraised  ; '  or  '  Hermon,'  '  the 
lofty  peak;'  or  'Shenir'  and  'Sirion,'  'the  glittering  breast- 
plate of  ice ; '  or,  above  all, '  Lebanon,'  the  Mont  Blanc  of 
Palestine  ;  the  '  White  Mountain '  of  ancient  times ;  the 
mountain  of  the  '  Old  White-headed  Man,'  or  the  '  Mount- 
ain of  Ice,'  in  modern  times.  So  long  as  its  snowy  tops 
were  seen,  there  was  never  wanting  to  the  Hebrew  poetry 

the  image  of  unearthlv  grandeur,  which  nothing-  else  but 
29 


450  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

perpetual  siioay  can  give,  especially  as  seen  in  tlie  sum- 
raer,  when  ^  the  firmament  around  it  seems  to  be  on  fire.'"* 

Six  days  after  the  conversation  recorded  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter,  according  to  Matthew  and  Mark,  '•  about 
an  eight  days  "  after,  according  to  Luke,  who, — following 
the  usual  Jewish  phraseology, — includes  the  two  fractions 
of  days  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  period  as  full 
days,  Jesus  selected  three  of  His  disciples, — Peter,  James 
and  John,  and  led  them  up  into  '•  a  high  mountain  apart." 
The  name  of  the  mountain  is  not  given ;  but  it  was  most 
likely  Hermon,  of  which  we  have  just  spoken,  that  being 
in  the  vicinity  of  Cesarea  Philippi.  where  our  Lord  had 
been  laboring.  Nowhere  better  than  in  this  sublime  re- 
gion, could  He  have  found  a  place  so  removed  from  the 
noise  and  bustle  of  the  world,  and  so  well  fitted  for 
spiritual  contemplation,  and  high  communing  with  God. 
To  such  places  our  Lord  w^as  wont,  especially  in  the  still- 
ness of  the  night,  to  retire  for  meditation  and  prayer, — 
so  careful  was  He  to  exclude  the  world  from  His  hours  of 
devotion. 

The  occasion  of  our  Lord's  withdrawal  to  the  seclusion 
of  this  mountain  height,  was  on<3  of  sublime  significance. 
He  had  appeared  among  men  in  the  form  of  a  servant. 
The  fulness  of  the  Godhead  which  dwelt  in  Him  bodily 
was  veiled  from  human  view  by  His  lowly  appearance. 
On  several  memorable  occasions,  it  is  true,  His  glory, — 
"the  gloiy  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,"  had 
flashed  through  the  veil,  and  been  revealed  to  a  few 
chosen  witnesses.  It  was  His  purpose,  however,  to  make 
one  express  revelation  of  that  glory,  altogether  unique 
and  wonderful.  Three  of  the  evangelists,  —  Matthew, 
Mark  and  Luke, — have  given  us  a  full  and  circumstantial 
account  of  tliis  event.     "We  refer  to  the  Transfiguration. 

♦Stanley's  "  Sinai  and  Palestine,"  page  395. 


THE    TRANSFIGURATION.  451 

It  may  seem  somewhat  extraordinary,  that  only  three 
of  the  disciples  were  selected  to  be  eye-witnesses  of  the 
glory  of  Christ ;  and  the  fact  becomes  more  remarkable, 
when  we  consider  that  these  three  were  chosen  on  other 
occasions,  to  be  witnesses  of  His  more  glorious  minicles. 
They  seem  to  have  constituted  the  inmost  circle  of  our 
Lord's  followers  and  friends ;  they  were  always  near  His 
person,  and  were  admitted  to  enjoj'  His  more  unreserved 
and  confidential  communications.  Nor  was  this  the  re- 
sult of  mere  favoritism ;  they  were,  doubtless,  in  a  more 
advanced  stage  of  spiritual  development  than  their  as- 
sociates ;  were  more  in  sympathy  w  ith  their  Master ;  and 
were  more  enlightened  and  better  qualified  to  understand 
the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Hence,  it  was 
given  them  to  w^itness  those  manifestations  of  His  glory, 
which  the  others  were  not  yet  able  to  bear. 

Behold  then  our  Lord  with  the  three  disciples,  on  the 
"holy  mount,"  in  the  dimness  and  silence  of  this  ever- 
memorable  night;  —  for  "it  was  probably  night,  when 
this  marvellous  spectacle  was  vouchsafed  to  the  disciples. 
Such  an  assumption  best  explains  the  'next  day'  of  Luke 
ix.  37.  This,  if  it  was  so,  must  have  infinitely  enhanced 
the  grandeur  of  the  vision ;  although  the  brightness 
doubtless  was  such  as  would  have  paled  even  the  noon- 
day sun."*  Let  us  draw  near  with  reverence  and  hu- 
mility ;  for  a  divine  voice  exclaims :  "  Put  off  thy  shoes 
from  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is 
holy  ground."  f  Jesus,  the  pure  and  holy,  now  engages  in 
prayer, — fit  preparation  for  the  glory  which  is  to  be  gath- 
ered about  Him.  And  as  He  prayed,  He  was  transfigured 
before  them, — the  fashion  of  His  countenance  w^as  altered, 
His  face  did  shine  as  the  sun,  and  His  raiment  became 
shining,  exceeding  white  as  snow,  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth 

*  Trench's  Studies  on  the  Gospels,  page  194.  f  Exodus  iii.  5. 


452  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

can  wliite  them, — ^vllite  as  the  light,  white  and  glisten- 
ing." The  word  transfigured  signifies,  not  a  change  of 
suhstance,  but  o^  form  ;  as  Matthew  Henry  says:  "The 
substance  of  His  body  remained  the  same,  but  the  acci- 
dents and  appearances  of  it  were  greatly  altered.  He 
was  not  turned  into  a  spirit;  but  His  body,  which  had  ap- 
peared in  weakness  and  dishonor,  now  appeared  in  power 

and  glory Christ  is  both  God  and  man ;  but  in  the 

days  of  His  flesh.  He  took  on  Him  the /brm  of  a  servant; 
He  drew  a  veil  over  the  glory  of  His  Godhead ;  but  now, 
in  His  transformation.  He  put  by  that  veil  and  appeared 
in  the  form  of  God,  and  gave  the  disciples  a  glimpse  of 
His  glory,  which  could  not  l^ut  change  His  form." 

Proceeding  with  the  details  of  the  transfiguration,  Luke 
says  that  "  The  fashion  of  His  countenance  was  changed," 
which  we  might  well  understand  as  that  elevated  and 
heavenly  expression  of  countenance,  which  the  Son  of 
God  must  have  borne  when  in  the  act  of  communion 
witli  the  Father,  were  it  not  that  Matthew  has  used  more 
precise  and  graphic  words :  "  His  face  did  shine  as  the 
smi."  This  can  not  be  set  aside  as  either  metaphor  or 
hyperbole.  The  meaning  evidently  is  that  the  Saviour's 
face  was  illuminated  from  within,  and  shone  with  a  sun- 
like glory.  There  is  as  yet  no  mention  of  any  external 
splendor,  as  if  His  countenance  shone  by  reflection. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  eff'ulo-ence  which  i>:lori- 
fied  His  flesh  was  the  out-beaming  of  that  glory  which 
He  had  with  the  Father,  before  the  world  was.  And 
not  only  did  this  light  radiate  from  His  face,  but  also 
from  His  whole  body,  for  His  very  raiment  became  white 
and  glittering.  Speaking  of  this  resplendence  of  our 
Lord's  person.  Trench  uses,  in  a  recent  work,  the  striking 
language:  "All  words  seem  weak  to  the  evangelists;  all 
images  fail  them  here.  St.  Mark,  whose  words  I  have 
quoted,  ])orrows   one   image   from   the    world   of  nature. 


THE    TRANSFIGURATION.  453 

another  from  man's  art  and  device ;  by  these  he  strug- 
gles to  set  forth  and  reproduce  for  his  readers  the  tran- 
scendent brightness  of  that  light  which  now  arrayed,  and 
from  head  to  foot,  the  person  of  our  Lord,  breaking  forth 
from  within,  and  overflowing  the  very  garments  which 
He  wore ;  until  in  their  eyes  who  beheld,  He  seemed  to 
clothe  Himself  with  light  as  with  a  garment,  light  being 
indeed  the  proper  and  peculiar  garment  of  Deity."* 

Other  j)ersons  now  enter  upon  the  scene.  "  There 
talked  with  Him  two  men,  Moses  and  Elias,  who  ap- 
peared in  glory."  They  evidently  appeared  in  a  bodily 
form,  as  glorified  men.  This  would  seem  to  intimate 
that  they  were  in  the  resurrection  state.  One  of  them, 
w^e  know,  had  been  translated  without  seeing  death,  and 
was  in  a  state  equivalent  to  that  of  the  resurrection. 
The  other  was  clothed  upon  for  the  time,  at  least,  with  a 
spiritual  body,  so  that  he  became  visible  to  the  disciples.f 

This  was  a  wonderful  conference.  The  speakers  were 
Moses,  the  representative  of  the  Law ;  Elijah,  the  chief 
of  the  Prophets,  and  Jesus,  in  whom  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets  were  fulfilled.  The  subject  on  which  they  dis- 
coursed was  His  decease,  which  He  should  accomplish  at 
Jerusalem.     This  was  a  theme  of  the  deepest  interest  to 

*  Psalms  cv.  2  ;  Habakkuk  iii.  4.    Studies  in  the  Gospels,  page  194. 

t  Archbishop  Trench,  in  his  recent  work,  (  Studies  in  the  Gospels,  pages 
197,  198)  has  revived  the  ancient  dispute  about  the  hody  of  Moses  (Jude  9)  : 
"  We  can  not  dismiss  the  question,  why  the  two  who  appear  should  be  exactly 
Moses  and  Elias  ?  It  was  not  merely  that  among  all  the  prophets  and  saints 
of  the  Old  Testament  these  were  the  two,  of  whom  one  had  not  died,  and 
the  other  had  no  sooner  tasted  of  death  than  probably  his  body  was  withdrawn 
from  under  the  dominion  of  death,  and  of  him  that  bad  the  power  of  death ; 
the  two,  therefore,  whose  apparition  in  glorified  bodies  before  the  day  of 
resurrection  had  less  in  it  perplexing  than  that  of  any  others  would  have  had." 
The  suggestion  is  by  no  means  new ;  it  may  be  found,  in  language  more 
striking  and  felicitous  in  IMatthew  Henry.  I  have  not  inserted  it  in  the  text 
because  it  struck  me  as  more  curious  and  fanciful  than  solid. 


454  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

all  the  prophets  who  luul  lived  since  the  world  began ; 
for  they  all  "  searched  diligently,  Avhat,  or  what  manner 
of  time,  the  Spirit  of  Christ  which  was  in  them  did  signify 
when  it  testified  beforehand  of  the  sufterings  of  Christ 
and  the  glory  that  .should  follow."*  No  wonder,  there- 
fore, that  the  death  of  Christ  was  the  theme  of  this  mem- 
orable conference. 

Meanwhile,  the  three  disciples  gazed  at  the  august 
scene,  and  listened  to  that  celestial  colloquy,  till  their 
mortal  faculties  were  overpowered.  They  were  struck 
with  a  kind  of  blessed  paralysis,  by  the  glory  of  the 
vision,  though  their  senses  were  not  locked  up,  nor  their 
consciousness  suspended.  Peter,  ready  to  speak,  even  in 
the  presence  of  immortals,  said  to  Jesus :  "  Master,  it  is 
good  for  us  to  be  here ;  if  thou  wilt,  let  us  make  here 
three  tabernacles,  one  for  Thee,  and  one  for  Moses,  and 
one  for  Elias."  In  his  ecstasy  he  would  not  have  the  glory 
vanish  away  ;  he  shrank  from  returning  to  the  world ; 
there,  on  that  mountain,  where  the  glory  of  Christ's  king- 
dom was  manifested,  he  would  ever  dwell. 

And  3'et  Peter  spoke  in  a  half-unconscious,  ecstatic 
bewilderment.  In  a  sort  of  self-forgetful  humility,  he 
proposes  only  to  make  tabernacles  for  Jesus,  Moses,  and 
Elias  ;  none  for  himself  and  his  fellow-disciples.  Yet,  all 
humility  aside,  to  make  no  provision  for  the  proper  shelter 
for  himself  and  his  earthly  associates  on  that  bleak  spot 
was  far  from  sensible ;  and  the  thought  of  building  tents 
on  the  mountain  top  for  glorified  immortals  was  simply 
absurd.  Ah,  a  state  of  mere  religious  ecstasy  is  not  the 
best  adapted  to  the  practical  wants  or  duties  of  this  life. 
Nothing  more  than  a  passing  rapture,  even  though  lighted 
with  the  actual  "  glory  of  regions  celestial,"  is  all  that  is 
safe  for  even  an  inspired  apostle.     No,  Peter,  you  shall 

*I.  Peter,  i.  11. 


THE    TRANSFIGURATION.  455 

not  dwell  on  this  mountain.  Though  it  is  good  to  be 
here,  your  duty  is  elsewhere.  You  must  go  down  ao-ain 
into  the  dusty  work-day  world.  You  must  toil  along  the 
miry  way  of  common  life  for  many  years.  You  must  run 
the  race  for  an  immortal  garland,  over  an  earthly  course. 
The  time  for  heavenly  rest,  for  ecstatic  enjoyment,  is  not 
till  all  this  is  past. 

But  the  thought  of  abiding  on  that  mountain  was  sud- 
denly swept  from  Peter's  mind.  For,  while  he  was  yet 
speaking  a  bright  cloud  suddenly  overshadowed  them  and 
concealed  from  their  view,  not  only  natural  objects,  but 
also  Jesus,  with  Moses  and  Elias.  This  cloud,  according 
to  the  best  scholars,  was  a  light-cloud;  that  is,  a  cloud 
composed  of  light — a  cloud  which  did  not  conceal  objects 
by  casting  a  shadow,  but  which  by  its  intense  splendor 
produced  the  effect  of  darkness.  In  this  singular  cloud 
we  recognize  the  ancient,  mysterious,  supernatural  symbol 
of  Jehovah's  presence  among  His  people ;  the  pillar  of 
cloud  and  fire  in  which  he  dwelt  when  guiding  Israel 
through  the  Eed  Sea  and  the  wilderness;  and  the  she- 
kinah  which  hallowed  first  the  tabernacle  and  afterwards 
the  temple,  the  chosen  place  of  which  He  said :  "  Here 
will  I  dwell  for  I  have  desired  it."  * 

While  thus  overshadowed  by  the  cloud  and  over- 
whelmed with  awe,  they  heard  a  voice  out  of  the  cloud 
saying :  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased ;  hear  ye  Him."  Once  before,  had  God  spoken 
from  the  excellent  glory  in  attestation  of  Jesus  as  His 
beloved  Son, — at  His  baptism ; — and  now,  He  gives  testi- 
mony in  His  behalf  afresh,  with  the  added  injunction : 
"Hear  ye  Him."  Thus  was  our  Lord  invested  with  all 
authority  in  heaven  and  earth.  This  voice  has  rendered 
all   His    sayings   as   authoritative,  as  if  they  had  been 

*  Psalms  cxxxii.  14. 


45G  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

spoken  to  man  in  a  voice  of  thunder  out  of  the  excellent 
glory. 

When  the  disciples  heard  this  voice,  they  fell  on  their 
faces  and  were  sore  afraid.  But  '-'Jesus  came  and  touched 
them  and  said :  Arise,  and  be  not  afraid."  When  at  length, 
they  ventured  to  look  around  them,  the  glorious  vision 
had  passed  away  and  "  they  saw  no  man  any  more,  save 
Jesus  only,  with  themselves."  Our  Lord  had  resumed 
the  servant  form.  They  now  descended  the  mountain, 
Jesus,  the  meanwhile  charging  His  disciples,  "  that  they 
should  tell  no  man  what  things  they  had  seen,  till  the 
Son  of  man  was  risen  from  the  dead."  This  was  because 
His  disciples  generally  were  not  prepared  to  understand 
the  transfiguration  till  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead; 
not  before  would  they  be  qualified  to  grasp  the  sublime 
meanincr  of  the  vision. 

In  order  that  we  may  enter  into  the  full  meaning  of 
this  supernatural  scene,  we  must  recall  the  declaration  of 
our  Lord  one  week  before :  — "  there  be  some  standing 
here  who  shall  not  taste  of  death  till  they  see  the  Son  of 
man  coming  in  His  kingdom."  .  The  three  evangelists 
have  carefully  recorded  this  prophecy  in  connection  with 
the  vision ;  and  the  apostle  Peter  speaks  of  "  the  power 
and  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  as  what  he  had 
himself  witnessed.*  The  transfiguration  therefore  was 
a  true  though  partial  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy.  It 
was,  in  the  words  of  Matthew  Henry,  "  a  specimen "  of 
the  coming  and  kingdom  of  the  Lord.  John  the  Baptist 
first  and  Jesus  afterwards  had  preached  the  kingdom  of 
God  as  at  hand ;  and  this  was  the  dominant  idea  in  the 
minds  of  the  disciples.  Yet  their  conception  of  it  was 
exceedingly  erroneous.  They  expected  that  Jesus  would 
ascend  the   throne  of  David,  and  establish  a  victorious 


*IL  Peter  i.  16-18. 


THE    TRANSFIGURATION.  457 

earthly  monarchy.  They  could  not  conceive  of  a  rejected, 
suffering  Messiah ;  neither  could  they  understand  the  real 
glory  of  His  person  and  reign.  Jesus  therefore  deter- 
mined to  give  the  three  most  advanced  disciples  a  repre- 
sentation of  His  kingdom  and  glory.  Thus  understood, 
the  whole  scene  is  replete  with  the  deepest  interest  and 
instruction.  Well  meditated,  it  will  yield  us  a  true  con- 
ception of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  its  final  glory. 

In  the  first  place,  let  us  note  how  everj^  act  and  circum- 
stance of  this  representative  scene  is  subservient  to  one 
great  purpose,  namely,  to  invest  the  Saviour  with  tran- 
scendent dignity  and  glory.  He  appears  as  the  center  of 
the  vision.  We  see  the  very  body  He  had  assumed  be- 
coming self-luminous,  like  the  very  substance  of  light, 
and  shining  with  a  sun-like  splendor.  This  is  very  sig- 
nificant. Light  has  always  been  regarded,  even  by  the 
heathens  themselves,  as  the  most  striking  symbol  of  the 
Divine  Essence ;  and  God  Himself  has  consecrated  it  as 
such  a  symbol.  "God  is  light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness 
at  all."  How  much  there  is  of  metaphor  in  this, it  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  know.  We  are  certain  that  the  glory 
which  radiated  from  our  Lord's  body  was  the  external 
manifestation  of  that  divine  fulness  which  dwelt  in  Him. 
So  doubtless  the  three  disciples  regarded  it.  "We  be- 
held His  glory,"  says  John,  "  the  glory  as  of  the  only  be- 
gotten of  the  Father."* 

*  The  following  passage  from  Trench's  "Studies  in  the  Gospels,"  —  a 
work,  published  since  the  above  was  written, — 'will  be  of  interest  to  the  reader: 
"  In  the  circumstance  that  His  glory  was  not  one  which  was  lent  Ilini,  but 
His  own,  bursting  forth  as  from  an  inner  fountain  of  light,  not  merely  gilding 
Him  from  without,  not  playing  like  that  of  Moses,  on  the  skin  and  f  urf\ice  of 
His  countenance  ;  perhaps  also  in  its  being  a  glory  which  arrayed,  not  His  face 
alone,  but  His  entire  person,  we  have  those  tokens  of  superiority,  those  preroga- 
tives of  the  blaster  above  the  servant,  which  we  are  evermore  able  to  trace  even 
in  matters  wherein  one  or  another  of  these  may  seem  to  have  anticipated,  and 
thus  to  have  come  into  some  sort  of  competition  with  Him."      (Page  195.) 


458  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

There  is  rea.son  to  believe  also  that  the  effiilo-ence 
"which  beamed  from  His  flesh,  on  this  occasion,  was  in- 
tended to  represent  to  the  three  witnesses  and  to  us,  the 
permanent  appearance  of  Christ's  "  glorious  body "  in 
heaven.  "We  may  conceive  of  Ilim  as  presenting  to  the 
view  of  saints  and  angels  alcove,  that  altered  fashion  of 
countenance,  that  face  shining  as  the  sun,  those  garments 
white  as  snow,  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  can  whiten  them, — 
in  a  word,  that  transfigured  humanity,  which  the  disciples 
saw  on  the  mount.  In  that  same  glorified  body  will  He 
come  at  the  last  day,  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  to  judge 
the  world  and  glorify  His  saints.  And  in  that  body  will 
He  dwell  among  them  forever  in  New  Jerusalem. 

Other  circumstances  concurred  to  show  forth  the  glory 
of  our  Lord.  The  sudden  appearance  of  the  light-cloud 
and  the  voice  which  came  forth  from  it,  saying :  "  This  is 
my  beloved  Son  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased :  hear  ye 
Him,"  were  evidently  intended  to  invest  Him  with  sur- 
passing majesty.  That  cloud  which  enveloped  His  person 
represented  the  ineffable  fact  that  in  Him  humanity  was 
taken  into  God,  wliich  was  confirmed  by  the  voice  de- 
claring His  Divine  Sonship.  Besides,  that  voice  invested 
Him  with  sujDreme  Kingship.  The  Son  of  man  is  appointed 
Lord  and  Ruler  of  heaven  and  earth  in  the  presence  of 
the  representatives  of  both.  "Hear  Him" — ohei/  IHm — 
is  the  command  addressed  to  all  the  armies  of  heaven 
and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth.  Our  Lord  Himself 
doubtless  refers  to  this  high  commission,  when  He  says 
after  His  resurrection :  ''  All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in 
heaven  and  in  earth."  Christ,  therefore,  in  this  scene  is 
exhibited  to  us  as  the  supreme  King  to  whom  is  put  in 
subjection  this  present  world  and  the  world  to  come. 
Thus  is  He  crowned  with  many  crowns.  His  name  is 
a})ove  every  name;  His  throne  above  every  throne. 
When  we  see  Him,  at  last,  it  will  be  as  King  of  kings, 


THE    TRANSFIGURATION.  459 

and  Lord  of  lords,  reigning  in  liiiman  form  over  all  the 
hosts  of  the  redeemed,  nay,  over  the  whole  universe. 
When  llis  full- orbed  glory  shall  be  revealed  to  His  peo- 
ple they  shall  sing,  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain, 
to  receive  power  and  riches,  and  wisdom  and  strength 
and  honor  and  glory  and  blessing.  And  every  creature 
in  heaven,  and  on  the  earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea, 
and  all  that  are  in  them  will  respond,  saying.  Blessing 
and  honor,  and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  Him  that  sit- 
teth  upon  the  throne  and  to  the  Lamb  forever." 

Further,  this  scene  of  the  transfiguration  may  teach  us 
the  Q-lorious  condition  of  the  redeemed  in  the  kinii-dom 
of  God.  They  will  be  made  partakers  of  the  glory  of 
Christ.  Moses  and  Elias  appeared  with  Him  in  glory. 
They  also  entered  into  the  cloud.  They  also  were  trans- 
figured. And  a  similar  transfiguration  awaits  all  the  peo- 
ple of  Christ.  "  The  glory  Thou  hast  given  Me,  I  have 
given  them,"  says  the  Saviour.*  St.  Peter  calls  himself 
a  partaker  of  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed.  "We 
know,"  says  John,  "  that  when  He  shall  appear  we  shall 
be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is."t  So  also 
the  apostle  Paul  assures  us  that  He  wdll  fashion  our  vile 
body  like  unto  His  glorious  body.  "  The  first  man  is  of 
the  earth,  earthy;  the  second  man  is  the  Lord  from 
heaven.  As  is  the  earthy  such  are  they  also  that  are 
earthy  ;  and  as  is  the  heavenly  such  are  they  also  that 
are  heavenly.  And  as  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the 
earthy,  we  shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly."  t 

It  may  well  be  suggested,  in  closing,  that  the  appear- 
ance of  Elijah  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration  had  a 
special  prophetic  significance.  As  he  was  rapt  awa}-  from 
the  earth,  without  tasting  death,  so  those  who  shall  be 
alive  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  shall  be  changed  and 

*  John  svii.  22.  f  John  iii,  2.  $1.  Corinthians  xv.  47-49. 


460  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIIIIST. 

translated.  As  this  change  could  not  be  foreshown  in 
the  person  oi*  our  Lord  Hiniseli",  who  was  destined  from 
eternity  to  be  slain,  and  descend  into  the  grave,  it  was 
necessary  that  it  should  be  set  forth  in  one  or  more  of 
His  types  and  forerunners.  In  the  translation  of  Enoch 
and  Elijah  this  needed  prophetic  symbol  was  given.  And 
when  the  latter  appeared  on  the  holy  mount,  to  wait  on 
the  transfigured  Lord,  it  was  to  show  that  not  only  the 
resurrection  of  the  holy  dead,  but  the  transformation  and 
rapture  of  the  living  saints,  should  come  from  fellowship 
with  the  risen  Redeemer,  that  in  all  things,  He  might 
have  the  preeminence. 


CHAPTER    VI. 
JESUS   HEALS   THE  LUNATIC    CHILD. 

THE   LIFE    OP   JESUS    ONE    OF  CONTRASTS — A  LUNATIC   CHILD   BROUGHT   TO 

BE    HEALED THE     DISCIPLES    ATTEMPT     THE     CURE     AND     FAIL — JESUS 

APPEARS  AND  IS    GREETED    BY    THE  MULTITUDE — THE  FATHER  APPEALS 

TO  JESUS HE   REBUKES  HIS  DISCIPLES  AND  THE  PEOPLE THE  FATHER'S 

DISTRESS   AND  WANT  OF    FAITH — JESUS    HEALS    THE  CHILD EFFECT   OF 

THE  MIRACLE — WHY  THE  DISCIPLES  FAILED  TO  EFFECT  A  CURE — 
FAITH,  ITS  kinds' — TRUE  FAITH  VITAL  AND  THE  GROWTH  OF  LOVE — 
IT    IS    PRODUCJTVE    AND    POWERFUL — MEANS    OF    INCREASING   FAITH. 

Matthew  xvii.  1-1-21.    Mark  ix.  14-29.    Luke  ix.  37-43. 

The  life  of  Jesus  was  full  of  wonderful  contrasts.  The 
natural  and  the  supernatural,  the  earthly  and  the  heav- 
enly, glory  anil  humiliation,  the  divine  and  the  human, 
were  commingled  in  almost  every  scene  of  the  wonderful 
drama.  Thus  it  w^as,  that  while  our  Lord  was  upon  the 
mount,  clothed  upon  with  a  majesty  ineffable,  a  scene  cal- 
culated to  bring  His  name  and  mission  into  dishonor  and 
contempt  was  witnessed  on  the  plain  below.  Jesus  had 
disappeared  from  the  multitude,  they,  knew  not  where  or 
how.  Nine  of  the  apostles,  however,  and  many  other 
disciples  were  there.  They  were  doubtless  engaged  in 
teaching,  and  healhig  diseases,  in  their  Master's  absence. 
An  afflicted  father,  whose  only  son,  now  a  youth,  was  a 
lunatic, — an  evil  spirit  of  extraordinary  malignity  hav- 
ing superinduced  on  a  natural  malady  the  most  fearful 
spiritual  disorders, — had  come  to  seek  a  cure  at  the  hands 
of  Jesus. 


462  THE    LIFE    OF    CUKIST. 

Not  finding  the  Master,  he  entreated  the  liisciples  to 
heal  his  child.  They  ^villingl3'  made  the  attempt;  but  met 
with  an  ignominious  failure.  They  were  overwhelmed  with 
confusion.  They  had  doubtless  called  over  the  demoniac 
the  name  of  Christ;  they  had  done  it  in  the  presence  of 
a  great  multitude ;  and  that  name  seemed  to  be  j^owerless. 
Their  mortification  was  aggravated  by  the  presence  of 
many  secret  and  avowed  enemies,  who  could  not  conceal 
their  exultation.  There  were  certain  scribes  present  who 
seiz.ed  the  occasion  to  question  the  disciples.  Their  ques- 
tions were  doubtless  malicious  and  insulting ;  and  we  may 
easily  imagine  that  to  the  discomfited  disciples,  who  were 
ill  qualified  to  cope  with  their  antagonists  in  argument, 
the}'  were  highly  embarrassing.  They  had  hitherto  been 
able  to  refute  objectors  by  deeds  ;  but  now  they  seemed 
witiiout  any  resources.  They  stood  confounded,  nnable 
either  to  understand  or  explain  the  cause  of  their  failure. 
Their  adversaries  were  ready  to  impute  it  to  a  want  of 
power  in  Jesus  himself.  "  Here,  then,"  they  probably  rea- 
soned, "  the  lofty  claims  of  the  Nazarene  impostor  are 
publicly  exposed.  His  former  cures  were  'either  illusive, 
or  were  effected  by  natural  means ;  here  is  a  case  of  real 
malady  which  mocks  His  power."  We  may  Avell  conceive 
that  the  multitude  were  in  a  state  of  intense  excitement, 
wondering  what  the  issue  would  be. 

hjuddenly  Jesus  appears  in  the  midst  of  them.  Mark 
informs  us  that  when  "  the  people  beheld  Him  they  were 
greatly  amazed,  iind  running  to  Him  saluted  Him."  Why 
should  the  people  have  been  amazed  when  they  saw  Him? 
The  ex])lanation  is  both  obvious  and  interesting.  He  had 
come  from,  high  commimings,  and  a  marvellous  investi- 
ture of  light  and  majesty  on  the  mountain.  Tliere  is, 
then,  reason  to  suppose  that  "  His  flice  and  person  yet 
glistened,  with  traces  of  the  glory  which  had  clothed 
Him  there  ; — traces  v.hich  had  not  yet  disappeared,  nor 


nEALlS'G    OF    THE    LUNATIC    CHILD.  463 

faded  into  the  light  of  common  day.  When  Moses  de- 
scended from  a  lesser  and  typical  transfiguration,  his  face 
shone  so  that  the  people  could  not  steadfastly  behold  him, 
and  were  afraid  to  come  nigh  him.  That  was  a  threaten- 
ing glory;  the  intolerable  brightness  of  the  law.  But 
the  glory  of  God  shining  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ, 
though  awful,  was  attractive,  full  of  grace  and  beauty, 
drawing  men  to  Him,  not  driving  them  from  Him."* 
Hence,  the  2^^ople  came  running  to  Him  and  saluted 
Him,;  not  merely  as  one  who  had  been  temporarily  ab- 
sent ;  but  with  the  spontaneous  reverence  which  the  gra- 
cious majesty  of  His  presence  was  fitted  to  inspire. 

Seeing  the  scribes  questioning  with  the  disciples,  He 
asked  them  :  "  What  question  ye  with  them  ?  "  This  was 
as  if  He  had  said :  '^  It  is  apparent  that  you  are  exulting 
over  the  perplexity  into  which  you  have  thrown  these 
weak,  unlearned  fishermen,  my  disciples ;  turn  now  from 
the  servants  to  the  Master.  What  questions  have  you  to 
propose  to  Me?  The  scribes  were  silent.  But  there  was 
one  among  the  multitude,  to  whom  these  questions  were 
of  little  interest;  one  who  was  burdened  with  weightier 
matters.  In  tones  full  of  anguish  he  exclaimed:  "Master, 
I  have  brought  unto  Thee  my  son,  which  hath  a  dumb 
spirit ;  and  wheresoever  he  taketh  him,  he  teareth  him ; 
and  he  foameth  and  gnasheth  with  his  teeth,  and  pineth 
away  ;  and  I  spake  to  Thy  disciples  that  they  should  cast 
him  out ;  and  they  could  not." 

The  cause  of  the  questioning,  of  the  perplexity  of  the  dis- 
ciples, and  of  the  unwonted  excitement  of  the  multitude, 
is  now  apparent.  We  seem  to  see  the  Master  looking 
round  upon  the  crowd,  and  especially  upon  His  disciples 
and  their  adversaries,  with  an  expression  of  majestic  dis- 
pleasure mingled  with  sorrow.     ''  0  faithless  and  perverse 


*  Trench  "  On  Miracles,"  pages  291,  292. 


4G4  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

generation,"  He  exclaims,  "  how  long  shall  I  be  with  you? 
How  long  shall  I  suffer  j'ou?"  This  reproof  was  doubt- 
less addressed  to  all  who  heard  it ;  but  fell  most  heavily 
on  the  disciples.  It  is  the  language  of  a  teacher,  who  has 
long  borne  with  the  perverse  dulness  and  indocilit}^  of  his 
pupils.  "Have  I  abode  with  you  so  long,  and  have  you 
profited  so  little  by  My  teaching?"  We  are  reminded 
of  His  words  to  Philip  :  "  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with 
thee,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  Me,  Philip? "*  There 
also  seems  to  be  in  these  words  a  distinct  intimation 
that  He  could  not  leave  them,  to  enter  upon  His  glory, 
till  they  should  have  learned  their  task ;  till  they  should 
have,  as  it  were,  acquired  strength  to  go  alone.  He  had 
been  absent  from  them  but  a  few  hours,  and  the  weak- 
ness  of  their  faith  had  been  demonstrated  to  their  own 
confusion,  and  to  the  triumph  of  their  enemies.  The  re- 
buke  of  our  Lord  also  fell  upon  the  father  of  the  lunatic, 
who  had  addressed  Him  in  a  tone  of  unbelief  He  did 
not  even  come  as  a  siij)plicant,  but  merely  narrated  the 
failure  of  the  disciples.  He  seems  to  feel  that  the  disease 
of  his  child  is  incurable.  He  doubts,  as  plainly  appears 
in  the  progress  of  the  conversation,  whether  Jesus  Him- 
self can  effect  a  cure.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  he 
shared  in  the  reproof  as  one  of  a  faithless  and  perverse 
generation.  Proljably  this  man  and  all  the  multitude  had 
witnessed  many  of  our  Lord's  mighty  miracles,  and  yet 
this  one  failure  of  the  disciples  had  created  general  doubt 
in  respect  to  the  extent  of  Plis  power. 

Our  Lord  now  directs  that  the  demoniac  should  be 
brouglit  to  Him.  As  the  unhappy  3'outh  approaches  the 
presence  of  the  Saviour,  he  falls  into  a  fearful  paroxysm ; 
he  is  torn  witli  convulsions  ;  he  falls  on  the  ground ;  he 
wallows,  ]]('   foams,  he  writhes   with  agony.     It  was  the 

*  John  xiv.  9. 


IIEALIXG    OF    THE    LL'NATIC    CHILD.  4G5 

usual  oflbct  of  Christ's  presence  on  demoniacs,  to  bring 
on  a  crisis  of  their  awful  malady.  The  powers  of  hell 
recoil  from  contact  with  the  heavenly  and  divine.  We 
may  suppose  that  the  evil  spirit  was  lilled  with  rage  and 
terror  at  the  certainty  of  being  expelled  from  his  living 
habitation.  His  wrath  was  great  because  his  time  was 
short.  Looking  with  pity  on  the  miserable  victim  of  Sa- 
tanic malice,  Jesus  asks  the  llither,  "  How  long  is  it  since 
this  came  unto  him?"  "Of  a  child,"  is  the  reply.  And 
then  the  unhappy  parent  proceeds  to  picture  the  suffer- 
mgs  of  the  j-outh,  who  frequently,  under  the  attacks  of 
this  dreadful  disease,  fell  into  the  fire  and  into  the  water, 
sometimes  perhaps  of  choice,  incited  by  the  evil  spirit  to 
self-destruction.  ''If  Thou  canst  do  anything,"  he  adds, 
"have  compassion  on  us  and  help  us."  The  afflicted  par- 
ent makes  the  suiferiufrs  of  the  child  his  own : — "  have 
compassion  on  us, — help  us!'  In  this,  he  resembles  the 
Syro-Phenician  mother;  —  but  how  unlike  her  in  faith! 
She  doubted  not  either  the  power  or  the  disposition  of 
Jesus  to  heal  her  daughter;  but  this  Jewish  flither  is  full 
of  unbelief.  He  comes  to  our  Lord  very  much  as  he 
would  have  applied  to  some  celebrated  physician :  "  If 
Thou  canst  do  anything,  help  us."  He  is  not  sure  that 
his  child  can  be  cured.  He  has  no  confidence  in  the  un- 
limited, supernatural  power*  of  Christ ;  the  most  he  can 
hope  is  that  there  is  a  2^ossihiliti/  of  cure.  "If  Thou 
canst  do  anything" — 0,  thou  of  little  faith!  Knowest 
thou  that  He  to  wdiom  thou  speakest  such  words  is  the 
Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  Lord  of  nature,  the 
Giver  of  life,  "the  everlasting  God  who  fainteth  not 
neither  is  weary?"  Speakest  thou  such  words  to  Him, 
who  governs  the  winds  and  the  seas ;  who  commands 
legions  of  angels  and  they  come  and  go  at  His  bid- 
ding ?  Alas,  this  benighted  supplicant  knows  not  that 
He  whom  he  approaches  as  a  physician  has  just  been 
30 


4GG  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

declared  by  a  voice  on  yonder  mountain,  God's  only  be- 
gotten Son ! 

Yet,  though  ignorant  and  unbelieving,  he  is  in  earnest. 
The  father's  heart  within  him  is  stirred  to  its  lowest 
depths.  He  is  ready  to  pray  to  any  one  who  can  heal 
his  child.  And  there  is  also  in  his  heart  a  germ  of  living 
faith.  To  quicken  and  develop  this,  our  Lord,  first  of  all 
bends  His  gracious  purpose.  "If  thou  canst  believe,  all 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  helieveih."  As  if  he  had 
said  :  '•  there  is  no  want  of  power  to  perform  this  or  any 
other  miracle,  but  there  is  a  condition  which  thou  must 
fulfil  ere  thy  child  can  be  healed.  If  thou  canst  believe, 
then  I  can  heal."  These  words  penetrate  like  a  ray  of 
heavenly  light  into  the  dark  soul  of  the  agonized  parent ; 
he  suddenly  becomes  conscious  both  of  the  beginning  of 
faith  and  of  the  vast  abyss  of  unbelief  in  his  heart,  and 
he  cries  out :  "  Lord,  I  believe ;  help  thou  my  unbelief" 
"Help  thou  my  unbelief!"  Thus  it  ever  is;  wdien  a  sin- 
ner believes,  he  is  first  made  fully  sensible  of  his  unbelief 
"  Only  in  the  presence  of  actual  grace  in  the  soul  does 
any  man  perceive  the  strength  and  prevalence  of  the  op- 
posing corruption.  Before,  he  had  no  measure  by  which 
to  gauge  his  deficiency."*  This  man  believes,  and  Christ 
does  help  his  unbelief  No  wonder  that  at  that  moment 
he  wept ;  it  was  the  crisis,  hot  only  of  his  child's  fate, 
but  of  his  own. 

All  this  while  the  multitude  have  been  streaming 
together.  The  very  presence  of  Christ  would  have  at- 
tracted them ;  but  the  case  of  the  lunatic  had  already 
enlisted  the  deepest  interest.  Our  Lord  seeing  the  con- 
course, rebuked  the  foul  spirit,  saying  in  a  voice  of  divine 
authority:  "Thou  dumb  and  deaf  spirit,  I  charge  thee 
come  out  of  him  and  enter  no  more  into  him."    The  w^ord 

♦Trench  "On  Miracles,"  page  296. 


HEALING    OF    THE    LUNATIC    CHILD.  467 

of  power  which  shakes  the  grisly  principalities  of  hell  is 
spoken.  The  demon,  crying  out  and  tearing  the  victim 
again,  came  oat  of  him,  and  he  lay  as  one  dead.  Indeed, 
the  people  pressing  around  him  declared  that  life  was 
extinct,  so  sore  had  been  the  struggle  ere  the  evil  spirit 
quit  his  usurped  habitation.  But  Jesus  came  and  touched 
the  child  with  His  life-giving  hands,  and  he  arose. 

We  are  left  to  imagine  the  joy  of  the  father  and  the 
gratitude  of  the  son.  We  know  that  the  cure  was  perma- 
nent, for  Jesus  had  charged  the  demon  to  enter  no  more 
into  him.  That  was  a  remarkable  day  in  the  history  of 
that  nameless  family,  when  the  youth  re-entered  the  home 
of  his  childhood,  in  the  possession  of  restored  health  and 
reason, — clothed  and  in  his  right  mind.  The  multitude 
are  amazed  at  the  mighty  joower  of  God ;  and  we  hear  no 
more  of  the  scribes  or  their  questionings.  But  the  dis- 
ciples are  ill  at  ease.  They  can  not  yet  understand  why 
they  could  not  cure  the  child.  They  therefore  come  to 
Jesus  apart  from  the  multitude,  and  ask  Him,  "  Why  could 
not  we  cast  him  out?"  Our  Lord's  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion is  one  of  those  memorable  utterances,  containing 
abysses  of  truth  which  ages  of  thoughtful  investigation 
can  not  fully  explore;  "Because  of  your  unbelief;  for 
verily  I  say  unto  you,  if  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mus- 
tard seed,  ye  shall  say  unto  this  mountain  remove  hence 
to  yonder  place,  and  it  shall  remove ;  and  nothing  shall 
be  impossible  unto  you,"  "  Howbeit,  this  kind  goeth  not 
forth  but  by  prayer  and  fasting."  As  if  He  had  said  to 
them  ;  "  Your  weakness,  of  which  your  failure  to  cure  the 
demoniac  is  a  mortifying  proof,  arises  from  your  unbelief 
This  is  indeed  a  difficult  case ;  but  the  smallest  degree  of 
true,  living  faith,  even  though  no  larger  than  a  grain  of 
mustard  seed,  can,  if  like  the  mustard  seed  it  have  a 
principle  of  life  and  growth  in  it,  surmount  all  difficulties, 
can  even  triumph  over  natural  impossibilities ;  it  can  do 


468  THE    LIFE    OF    CnPJST. 

all  tilings.  This  last  miracle  required  an  extraordinary 
degree  of  faith ;  but  even  this  you  could  have  attained 
by  prayer  and  fasting." 

That  prayer  should  be  necessary  to  the  highest  faith, 
is  obvious  of  itself  But  why  is  fasting  demanded  ?  Does 
our  Lord  intend  to  recommend  an  ascetic  life  ?  Certainly 
not  as  in  itself  a  virtue.  There  is  nothing  meritorious  in 
abstaining  from  meat  and  drink.  But  this  abstemiousness, 
this  self-mortification,  is  important  as  a  means  of  self-dis- 
cipline. As  such,  our  Lord  commends  it ;  nay,  indirectly 
enjoins  it.  Faith  is  a  highly  spiritual  act,  and  the  soul  can 
not  rise  to  a  spiritual  state,  while  immersed  in  the  flesh, 
while  suffocated  with  animalism.  He  who  lives  a  carnal, 
worldly  life,  following  the  desires  of  the  flesh  and  the  mind, 
putting  no  check  upon  the  passions,  yielding  to  every  sen- 
sual impulse,  is  incapable  of  faith.  And  this  alone  accounts 
for  the  unbelief,  the  infidelity  of  multitudes.  It  is  only  as 
the  flesh  with, its  aflections  is  mortified,  it  is  only  as  the 
sensual  is  cast  out  and  crucified,  and  the  body  made  the 
temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  the  vision  of  the  soul  is 
clarified,  that  it  is  uj^lifted  into  a  purer  and  more  invigor- 
ating atmosphere,  that  it  is  made  free  to  lay  hold  upon 
the  divine  fulness  and  strength. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    SECRET    JOURNEY   OF   CHRIST    THROUGH   GALILEE. 

REASONS  FOR  THE  SECRECY  OF  OUR  LORD's  JOURNEY  THROUGH  GALILEE — 
HE  AGAIN  FORETELLS  HIS  DEATH  AND  RESURRECTION — THE  TRIBUTE 
MONEY — DESIGN  OF  THE  MIRACLE — HE  REBUKES  THE  JEALOUSY  AND 
AMBITION  OF  THE  DISCIPLES — THE  LESSON  ON  FORGIVENESS — PARABLE 
OF    THE    DEBTOR. 

Matthew  xvii.  22-27 ;  xviu.  1-35.    Mark  ix.  30-50.    Luke  ix.  43-50. 

The  enemies  of  Jesus  were  numerous,  implacable  and 
sleepless.  Their  hostility  had  taken  the  form  of  a  con- 
spiracy, the  ramifications  of  which  extended  throughout 
the  principal  cities  of  the  Holy  Land.  Everywhere  ex- 
cept in  the  secluded  rural  villages  our  Lord  encountered 
determined  opposition.  His  persecutors  had  a  difficult 
part  to  play,  and  they  were  by  no  means  wanting  in 
courage  and  skill.  Their  first  aim  was  to  bring  Him  into 
discredit  with  the  people  as  a  heretic,  a  blasphemer  and 
a  demoniac ;  their  second,  to  fasten  upon  Him  the  sus- 
picion of  the  Roman  authorities,  as  a  disturber  of  the 
public  peace  and  as  a  revolutionary  leader;  their  final 
aim  was  by  one  means  or  another,  to  bring  about  His 
death.  Doubtless  He  was  at  this  time,  and  He  knew 
that  He  was,  in  constant  danger  of  assassination.  In- 
deed, when  we  consider  the  situation,  we  almost  wonder 
that  He  so  long  escaped  the  dagger  of  the  zealot.  But 
He  knew  what  was  in  man  ;  and  by  His  matchless  pru- 
dence He  foiled  the  cunnino;  and  thwarted  the  macliina- 


470  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

tions  of  His  blood-thirsty  foes.  He  replied  to  their  en- 
snaring questions  Avith  such  consummate  wisdom  that, 
far  from  eliciting  anything  by  which  He  was  compromised 
with  the  people  on  the  one  hand,  or  their  rulers  on  the 
other,  those  questions  returned  to  plague  the  inventors. 
As  the  peril  to  His  person  increased,  He  withdrew  Him- 
self more  and  more  from  Capernaum  and  the  neighboring 
cities,  and,  concealing  as  much  as  possible  His  movements, 
spent  much  of  the  time  among  the  rude  but  unprejudiced 
and  hospitable  peasants  of  Upper  Galilee  and  Decapolis. 
Hence  His  journey  beyond  the  borders,  narrated  in  a  for- 
mer chapter.*  Hence,  too.  His  journey  to  Cesarea  Phil- 
ippi.  And  hence  when  He  returned  from  that  region, 
He  took  measures  to  prevent  its  being  generally  known.f 
He  must  therefore  have  traveled  by  unfrequented  by- 
roads. Thus  He  guarded  against  the  dangers  by  which 
He  was  encompassed. 

Though  Jesus  knew  that  His  time  was  not  yet  come, 
He  knew  that  it  was  near;  and  His  great  work  hence- 
forth was  to  prepare  His  disciples  for  His  sufferings  and 
death.  Again  and  again  had  He  forewarned  them  of 
the  fearful  events  which  were  approaching;  but  with 
amazing  stupidity  they  had  failed  to  understand  His 
words.  While  they  believed  that  He  was  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God,  they  could  not  quite  extricate 
themselves  from  the  Jewish  conception  of  the  Messiah — 
a  conception  which  excluded  suffering  and  humiliation. 
Once  more,  on  this  journey,  Jesus  endeavored  to  remove 
their  erroneous  notions.  "Let  these  sayings,"  said  He, 
"sink  down  into  your  ears;  for  the  Son  of  man  shall 
be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  men,  and  they  shall  kill 
Him ;  and  after  that  He  is  killed  He  shall  rise  the  third 
day."     This  seems  sufficiently  explicit;  but  they  under- 

*  Chapter  IV.,  Part  VII.  f  Mark  ix.  30. 


TlIF    SECIIET    JOURNEY.  471 

stood  it  not.  Could  they  have  thought  tliat  it  was  a 
parable  ? 

Again  our  Lord  is  in  Capernaum.  The  circumstances 
which  rendered  it  safe  and  expedient  for  Ilim  to  return 
are.not  recorded.  Probably  during  His  absence  th^  rage 
of  His  enemies  had  somewhat  subsided ;  and  now  His 
sudden  appearance  found  them  unprepared  to  carry  their 
plans  into  effect.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Jesus  wrought 
a  miracle  which  has  perplexed  and  stumbled  many  com- 
mentators. It  has  been  preserved  by  Matthew  alone, 
and  can  be  best  narrated  in  his  own  words :  "And  when 
they  w^ere  come  to  Capernaum,  they  that  received  tribute- 
money  came  to  Peter  and  said,  Doth  not  your  Master  pay 
tribute  ?  He  saith.  Yes.  And  when  he  was  come  into 
the  house  Jesus  prevented  him,  saying,  What  thinkest 
thou,  Simon  ?  Of  whom  do  the  kings  of  the  earth  take 
custom  or  tribute  ?  of  their  own  children  or  of  strangers  ? 
Peter  saith  unto  Him,  Of  strangers.  Jesus  saith  unto 
him,  Then  are  the  children  free.  Notwithstanding,  lest 
we  should  offend  them,  go  thou  to  the  sea,  and  cast  a 
hook,  and  take  up  the  fish  that  first  cometh  up  ;  and 
when  thou  hast  opened  his  mouth,  thou  shalt  find  a  piece 
of  money :  that  take  and  give  unto  them  for  Me  and 
thee." 

That  a  miracle  should  have  been  wrought  for  such  a 
purpose  seems  to  many  incredible.  The  sole  difficulty  in 
the  case  lies  in  an  entire  misconception  of  the  purpose 
of  the  miracle.  Surely,  He  who  would  not  change  stones 
into  bread  to  appease  His  hunger  in  the  desert,  would 
not  w^ork  a  miracle  to  relieve  Himself  of  a  trifling  pe- 
cuniary embarrassment;  and  there  is  not  the  slightest 
evidence  that  our  Lord  and  His  disciples  were  in  such 
straits  that  they  were  unable  to  raise  a  single  stater.  It 
must  also  be  noted  that  the  "  tribute  "  spoken  of  was  not 
a  civil  capitation  tax  to  be  paid  to  the  publicans ;  but  a 


472  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

tax  paid  annually  by  the  Je^vs  of  twenty  3^ears  and  up- 
wards, towards  the  temple  in  Jerusalem  *  This  fact  is  the 
key  to  the  whole  narrative.  When  Peter,  having  with  his 
usual  haste  pledged  his  Master  to  pay  the  tax,  came  into 
the  house,  Jesus  anticipated  what  he  was  about  toJ:ell 
Him  with  the  question,  "  Of  whom  do  the  kings  of  the 
earth  (in  implied  contrast  with  the  King  of  ueaven) 
receive  custom  or  tribute  ?  of  their  own  children  or  of 
strangers?"  Peter  having  answered,  "Of  strangers,"  Je- 
sus rejoined,  "  Then  are  the  children  free."  The  conclu- 
sion rather  suggested  than  expressed,  was,  "  On  the  same 
principle,  the  Son  of  the  King  of  kings, — He  who  is 
above  the  temple  and  is  Himself  the  true  temple, — is  ex- 
empt from  a  tax  levied  for  the  temple.  As  a  Son  over 
the  house  of  God,  He  is  free."  Jesus  thus  asserted  to 
the  disciples,  and  especially  to  Peter,  who  had  so  recently 
confessed  Him  as  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  His  divine 
dignity.  But  inasmuch  as  Peter  had  already  engaged  for 
Him  that  the  tax  should  be  paid.  He  would  not  refuse, 
lest  He  should  thereby  cause  any  to  stumble,  as  if  He 
were  a  despiser  of  the  temple.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
the  tax  were  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  little  com- 
munity, the  discii)les  themselves  might  not  be  duly  im- 
pressed with  His  superiority  to  the  temple.  Therefore 
the  tax  was  paid  in  a  way  that  displayed  His  divine 
knowledge,  power  and  providence.  The  miracle  was 
wrought  to  prove  that  He  was  the  Son  of  God ;  and  it 
was  precisely  such  a  miracle  as  Matthew,  the  tax-gatherer, 
would  be  sure  to  record. 

That  there  was  really  a  fish  that  had  a  stater  lodged 
in  its  throat,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  That  was  not  a 
miracle.  The  miracle  lay  in  our  Lord's  knowledge  that 
that    }»artifular   fisli    would,  at   a   certain   moment,   seize 


Exodus  XXX.  13.     II.  King.s  xii.  4.     II.  Chronicles  xxiv.  6,  9. 


TUE    SECKET    JOUEXEY.  473 

the  hook  let  down  by  Peter.  Or  shall  we  say,  that  the 
Divine  Will,  which  pervades  all  nature,  impelled  the  fish 
to  that  spot  «and  to  that  act?  In  any  case  there  w^as 
no  violation  of  natural  laws ;  neither  was  there  anything 
magical  in  w^iat  was  done.  And  we  have  seen  that  the 
miracle  was  wrought  for  the  highest  conceivable  end.  It 
was  a  fresh  and  striking  fulfilment  of  the  wondrous  Mes- 
sianic psalm:*  "Thou  hast  made  [the  Son  of  man]  a  lit- 
tle lower  than  the  angels,  and  hast  crowned  Him  with 
glory  and  honor.  Thou  madest  Him  to  have  dominion 
over  the  works  of  Thy  hands ;  Thou  hast  put  all  things 
under  His  feet ;  all  sheep  and  oxen,  yea,  and  the  beasts 
of  the  field ;  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
and  whatsoever  passeth  through  the  paths  of  the  seas." 

It  seems  probable  that  the  honor  which  Jesus  had  re- 
cently bestowed  on  Peter,  and  on  the  two  sons  of  Zebe- 
dee,  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  other  disciples.  Certainly 
there  was  much  disputing  among  them,  wdio  should  be  the 
greatest.  At  length  they  (who  were  so  often  afraid  to 
ask  the  Master  legitimate  and  important  questions)  came 
to  Him  with  the  impertinent  and  incredible  question : 
^  Who  is  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  "  Our 
Lord's  answer  to  this  question  was  so  marvelously  beauti- 
ful and  instructive — it  reveals  so  clearly  His  inmost  spirit, 
and  the  inmost  spirit  of  His  gospel,  that  we  can  not  re- 
gret that  the  disciples  so  far  forgot  themselves  as  to  ask 
it.  Jesus  was  sitting  in  "  the  hmise  " — that  is  to  sa}^,  in 
the  humble  dwelling  which  was  His  abode  in  Capernaum. 
There  happened  to  be  in  the  room  a  little  child,  whom 
Jesus  called  to  Him,  and  took  up  in  His  arms,  and  set  in 
a  conspicuous  place  among  them.  "  Verily  I  say  unto 
you.  Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little  chil- 
dren, ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

*  Psalms  viii.  5-8. 


474  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

Whosoever  therefore  shall  humble  himself  as  this  little 
child,  the  same  is  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
And  whosoever  shall  receive  one  such  child  in  My  name, 
receiveth  Me."  This  dispute  concerning  the  primacy  was 
the  first  manifestation  of  the  hierarchical  spirit  in  the 
church.  The  apostles  having  been  told  that  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  was  at  hand,  thought  it  high  time  to  come  to 
some  luiderstanding  touching  the  distribution  of  honors 
and  dignities  in  that  kingdom.  Clearly  they  did  not  un- 
derstand that  our  Lord  had  designated  Peter  as  the  pri- 
mate ;  in  that  case  the  dispute  could  not  have  arisen. 
And  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Jesus  Himself,  in  answering 
their  question,  does  not  intimate  that  He  had  chosen 
Peter  to  that  honor;  but  on  the  contrary  cuts  up  the 
principle  of  hierarchical  lordship,  root  and  branch,  and 
shows  that,  in  respect  to  official  relations.  His  kingdom 
would  present  a  sharp  contrast  to  the  spirit  of  the  world. 
In  holding  up  a  little  child  as  representing  the  qualities 
requisite  to  admission  into  His  kingdom,  and  to  great- 
ness therein,  Jesus  teaches  that  true  religion  is  a  glorified 
infancy ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  a  development  of  the  faith, 
hope  and  love  wdiich  are  implanted  in  infants  by  the  cove- 
nant-grace of  God ;  and  that  conversion  lies  in  a  return 
to  the  simplicity,  trustfulness,  lowliness  and  docility  of  a 
regenerate  childhood.  He  says  in  effect  to  the  apostles : 
"  You  are  disputing  among  yourselves  who  shall  be  great- 
est in  My  kingdom,  when  it  is  doubtful  whether  you  are 
qualified  even  to  enter  it.  Behold  this  child,  so  obedient 
to  mv  call,  so  confiding,  so  unambitious,  so  loving ;  this 
is  a  model  disciple.  If  you  would  be  great  in  my  king- 
dom, renounce  first  all  your  pride  and  jealousy  and  lust 
for  preeminence,  and  become  as  this  little  child." 

Having  entered  the  kingdom  of  God  by  becoming  a 
child,  one  can  only  become  great  in  that  kingdom  by  be- 
coniimi;    still   more   a   cliild.     "Whosoever   shall   humble 


I 


THE    SECRET   JOURNEY.  475 

himself  as  this  little  child,  the  same  is  greatest  in  the 

kingdom  of  heaven."     The  man  who  seeks  greatness 

who  covets  distinction  and  power — shall  be  disappointed ; 
but  he  who  forgets  himself  and  renounces  the  honor  which 
comes  from  men,  and  becomes  the  least  of  all  and  the 
servant  of  all,  shall  -till  the  highest  place.  The  Saviour 
further  declares  that  those  who  are  eminently  childlike 
are  His  accredited  representatives  and  ambassadors.  His 
vicegerent  on  earth,  is — not  a  potentate  with  a  triple 
crown — but  a  little  child — one  who  has  renounced  the 
world  and  is  lowly  in  heart,  and  desires  only  to  serve, 
and  is  full  of  love.  Those  who  receive  such  a  meek- 
hearted  child  of  God  in  Christ's  name,  receive  Him.  It 
is  in  such  child-like  disciples  that  Christ  dwells ;  through 
them  He  governs  His  church ;  through  them  He  will 
govern  the  world ;  and  they  shall  be  greatest  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

Our  Lord  goes  on  to  erect  on  this  deej)  and  broad 
foundation  the  whole  superstructure  of  church  govern- 
ment and  discipline,  discoursing  at  length  on  offences ; 
on  the  means  to  be  employed  to  remove  them;  on  the 
authority  of  orderly  discipline  in  His  church  ;  on  the  duty 
of  mutual  forgiveness.  Though  this  discourse  of  our  Lord 
is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  important  that  He 
ever  uttered,  the  exposition  of  it  does  not  fall  within  the 
scope  of  this  book.  The  parable  however,  with  which  it 
closes,  must  not  be  omitted  : 

"  Then  came  Peter  to  Him,  and  said.  Lord,  how  oft  shall 
my  brother  sin  against  me,  and  1  forgive  him  ?  till  seven 
times  ?  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  say  not  unto  thee  until 
seven  times,  but  until  seventy  times  seven.  Therefore  is 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  likened  unto  a  certain  king  who 
would  take  account  of  his  servants.  And  when  he  had 
beo-un  to  reckon,  one  was  broui*:ht  unto  him  who  owed 
him  ten  thousand  talents.     But  forasmuch  as  he  had  not 


476  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

to  pav,  his  lord  commanded  him  to  be  sold,  and  his  wife 
and  children,  and  all  that  he  had,  and  payment  to  be 
made.  The  servant  therefore  fell  down  and  worshiped 
him,  saj-ing,  Lord,  have  patience  with  me,  and  I  will  pay 
thee  all.  Then  the  lord  of  that  servant  was  moved  with 
compassion,  and  loosed  him,  and  forgave  him  the  debt. 
But  the  same  servant  went  out,  and  found  one  of  his  fel- 
low servants,  who  owed  him  a  hundred  pence ;  and  he 
laid  hands  on  him,  and  took  him  by  the  throat,  saying, 
Pav  me  that  thou  owest.  And  his  fellow-servant  fell 
down  at  his  feet,  and  besought  him,  saying,  Have  patience 
with  me,  and  I  will  pay  thee  all.  And  he  would  not ; 
but  went  and  cast  him  into  prison  till  he  should  pay  the 
debt.  So  when  his  fellow-servants  saw  what  was  done, 
they  were  very  sorry,  and  came  and  tpld  unto  their  lord 
all  that  was  done.  Then  his  lord,  after  that  he  had  called 
him,  said  unto  him,  0  thou  wicked  servant,  I  forgave 
thee  all  that  debt  because  thou  desiredst  me :  shouldst 
not  thou  also  have  had  compassion  on  thy  fellow-servant, 
even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee  ?  And  his  lord  was  wroth,  and 
delivered  him  to  the  tormentors,  till  he  should  pay  all 
that  was  due  unto  him.  So  likewise  shall  My  Heavenly 
Father  do  also  unto  you,  if  ye  from  3'Our  hearts  forgive 
not  every  one  his  brother  their  trespasses." 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
JESUS   AT   THE  FEAST  OF   TABERNACLES. 

REASONS  FOR  OUR  LORD's  CONTINUANCE  IN  GALILEE  —  THE  FEAST  OF 
tabernacles' — JESUS  URGED  TO  ATTEND  THE  FEAST  BY  THE  DIS- 
CIPLES—  OUR  lord's  reply — THE  MULTITUDE  INQUIRE  AFTER  JESUS 
AND  RECOUNT  HIS  MIRACLES — JESUS  SUDDENLY  APPEARS  AND  BEGINS 
TO  TEACH — THE  ASTONISHMENT  OF  THE  PEOPLE  AT  HIS  TEACHING — 
JESUS  JUSTIFIES  HIMSELF — HIS  ENEMIES  TAKE  OFFENCE — HE  REBUKES 
THEM  —  THE  PHARISEES  SILENCED  AND  THE  PEOPLE  PERPLEXED  — 
JESUS  DECLARES  THEM  IGNORANT  OF  HIM — THE  SANHEDRIM  GIVE 
ORDERS    TO   ARREST    HIM — HE    CONTINUES    HIS    DISCOURSE. 

John  vii.  1-36. 

Jesus  had  now  been  in  Galilee,  according  to  the  most 
probable  reckoning,  about  eighteen  months.  This  long 
absence  from  Jerusalem  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  malice 
of  His  enemies  there.  During  His  last  visit  He  had  so 
shocked  their  superstitious  prejudices,  by  healing  the  sick 
man  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  by 
His  discourse  on  that  occasion,  that  they  had  resolved  to 
put  Him  out  of  the  way.  In  executing  their  plans,  they 
were  able  to  wield  the  whole  strength  of  the  sect  of 
Pharisees,  and  consequently  that  of  the  priesthood  and 
the  Sanhedrim.  These  had  their  emissaries  scattered 
over  the  whole  land,  and  especially  throughout  Galilee, 
who  seem  to  have  followed  our  Lord  from  place  to  place, 
and  to  have  reported  to  the  authorities  at  Jerusalem,  all 
His  works  and  sayings, — colored,  of  course,  by  prejudice 
and  hatred.  The  Pharisees  evidently  felt  that  it  was  a 
death-struggle,  that  they  must  destroy  Him  or  He  would 


478  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

destroy  them.  Tlie}^  were  alarmed  at  His  growing  popu- 
larity with  the  masses,  all  of  whom  believed  Hiiii  to  be 
a  prophet,  many  even  that  He  was  the  Messiah.  In  Gal- 
ilee especially,  the  common  people  honored  and  revered 
Him.  Hence  His  enemies  were  afraid  to  offer  Him  any 
o])en  insult  or  violence,  Avhile  He  continued  in  that  re- 
gion. Their  purpose  was  to  lay  hands  on  Him  at  Jerusa- 
lem, while  He  was  in  attendance  upon  some  festival ;  for 
even  they  could  not  deny  that  He  strictly  observed  the 
law. 

Several  feasts  had  now  gone  by,  and  Jesus  had  not 
appeared.  He  well  knew  that  His  next  journey  would 
be  full  of  danger;  and  He  therefore  abode  still  in  Galilee. 
Not  that  He  shrank  from  His  final  sufferings,  for  He  was 
straitened  till  His  baptism  of  blood  was  accompHshed. 
But  His  preparatory  work  was  not  yet  finished  ;  His  dis- 
ciples needed  further  instruction  and  training ;  He  had 
not  fulfilled  His  course ;  His  time  was  not  yet  come.  He, 
therefore,  used  every  precaution  suggested  by  prudence, 
to  escape  the  blood-thirsty  rage  of  His  enemies.  Thus, 
they  looked  for  Him  feast  after  feast  in  vain.  One  of 
the  principal  Mosaic  festivals  was  now  at  hand.  The 
great  Lawgiver  had  commanded  that,  on  the  fifteenth 
day  of  the  seventh  month,  corresponding  to  the  first  of 
our  October,  the  people  should  keep  a  feast  unto  the 
Lord  seven  days,  including  two  Sabbaths.  "And  ye  shall 
take  you  on  the  first  day  the  boughs  of  goodly  trees, 
branches  of  palm-trees,  and  the  boughs  of  thick  trees, 
and  willows  of  the  brook,  and  ye  shall  rejoice  before  the 
Lord  your  God  seven  days.  And  ye  shall  keep  it  a  feast 
unto  the  Lord  seven  days  in  the  year ;  it  shall  be  a  stat- 
ute forever  in  your  generations.  Ye  shall  celebrate  it  in 
the  seventh  month.  Ye  slmll  dwell  in  booths  seven  days; 
all  that  are  Israelites  born  shall  dwell  in  l)Ooths;  that  your 
generations  may  know  tliat  I  made  the  children  of  Israel 


JESUS  AT  THE  FEAST  OF  TABERNACLES.      479 

to  dwell  in  booths,  when  I  brought  them  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt.     I  am  the  Lord  your  God."* 

This  festival  was  the  most  joyous  of  all  those  observed 
among  the  Jews.  It  was  held  at  a  season  when  the  in- 
tense heat  of  summer  had  passed,  and  the  rains  of  autumn 
had  not  yet  commenced ;  w^hen,  therefore,  in  that  glorious 
climate,  the  people  could  surely  reckon  upon  cloudless 
skies  and  a  salubrious  air.  When  the  time  approached, 
the  whole  country  was  astir.  Caravans  were  seen  mov- 
ing toward  Jerusalem,  from  every  part  of  the  Holy  Land, 
and  even  from  distant  countries ;  for  in  the  time  of  Christ 
the  Jews  were  already  scattered  throughout  the  world. 
There  is  abundant  evidence  that,  at  everj^  important  festi- 
val, black  Jews  from  India  and  Abyssinia  met  with  their 
white  brethren  from  Greece  and  Italy,  perhaps  from  Gaul 
and  Spain.  At  this  feast,  all  the  open  spaces  in  and 
around  the  city  for  miles,  hills  and  valleys,  streets,  fields, 
vineyards  and  gardens,  must  have  been  filled  with  booths, 
all  crowded  with  people.  The  sound  of  a  mighty  popu- 
lation, and  of  a  mighty  joy  filled  the  air.  Music  and 
song  sounded  forth  on  every  side;  all  the  dialects  of  the 
earth  were  heard  in  the  streets.  An  unbroken  stream  of 
people  was  continually  flowing  to  and  from  the  courts  of 
the  temple.  The  smoke  of  sacrifice  ascended  without 
intermission. 

Such  was  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles.  As  the  time  drew 
near,  the  "  brethren,"  or  relatives  of  our  Lord  urged  Him 
to  go  up  to  Jerusalem.  The  reason  they  gave,  discloses 
an  extraordinary  state  of  mind  in  those  who  ought  to 
have  known  Him  so  well.  "  Depart  hence,  and  go  into 
Judea,  that  thy  disciples  also  may  see  the  works  that 
thou  doest.  For  there  is  no  man  who  doeth  anything 
in  secret,  and  he  himself  seeketh  to  be  known  openly. 

*  Leviticus  xxiii.  39—43. 


480  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIPJST. 

If  tliou  clo  these  tliinfrs,  show  thyself  to  the  world."  We 
detect  in  these  words  a  certain  degree  of  irony,  yet  un- 
mingled  with  scorn  or  malice.  They  did  not  believe  in 
Him;  yet  they  did  not  absolutely  and  wickedly  disbe- 
lieve. The}^  were  in  a  state  of  doubt;  but  they  seem 
to  have  doubted  as  much  in  His  favor  as  against  Him. 
They  were  looking  for  some  oveiyowerlng  evidence  which 
should  convince,  not  only  themselves,  but  also  the  whole 
nation.  He  had  now  nominal  disciples  scattered  all  over 
the  nation.  Why  did  He  not  go  np  to  Jerusalem,  where 
all  these  would  be  assembled  at  the  feast,  and  work  some 
illustrions  miracle  which  should  silence  all  objectors?  As 
if  they  had  said  to  Him :  "  Why  do  you  stay  in  such  a 
corner  as  Galilee  ?  Why  do  you  not  seek  the  widest  pub- 
licity, by  going  up  to  this  feast,  and  challenging  the  ob- 
servation and  scrutiny  of  the  congregated  nation?" 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  these  "brethren  of 
Christ," — James,  and  Joses,  and  Judas  and  Simon,  had 
recently  attempted  to  arrest  Ilim  as  a  lunatic,*  or  per- 
haps as  a  monomaniac;  but  it  would  seem  that  their  views 
had  somewhat  changed  since  then.  They  could  not  now 
think  Him  insane ;  neither  could  they  believe  in  Him. 
How  could  they,  Avith  their  carnal  views  be  convinced  that 
He,  who  had  perhaps  eaten  at  the  same  table,  and  worked 
with  them  in  the  same  carpenter's  shop  for  thirty  years, 
was  the  Son  of  God  and  the  consolation  of  Israel  ?  It  is 
nothing  new  or  strange  in  this  world  that  men,  though  in 
continual  contact  with  the  Divine,  should  be  unable  to  rec- 
ognize it.  Is  not  the  Divine  word  manifest  in  trees  and 
grass  and  flowers,  in  air  and  clouds,  in  sun,  moon  and  stars  ? 
Does  He  not  live  througii  all  life,  and  extend  throusrh  all 
extent,  without  being  recognized  by  men  ?  Think  it  not 
strange  that  those  who  knew  not  God  in  nature  should 

♦Mark  iii.  21. 


JESUS    AT    THE    FEAST    OF    TABERNACLES.  481 

fail  to  discover  His  presence  in  the  form  of  a  servant. 
Yet  it  was  something  tliat  they  earnestly  desired  Jesus  to 
go  up  to  Jerusalem  and  there  manifest  His  power. 

"  My  time,"  said  our  Lord  in  reply,  "  is  not  yet  come ; 
but  your  time  is  always  ready.  The  world  can  not  hate 
you ;  but  Me  it  hateth,  because  I  testify  of  it  that  the 
works  thereof  are  evil.  Go  ye  up  to  this  feast ;  I  go  not 
yet  up  to  this  feast,  for  My  time  is  not  yet  full  come." 
^^You  are  at  liberty  to  dispose  of  your  time  according  to 
your  best  judgment;  but  I  am  acting  under  divine  dicta- 
tion. My  time  is  appointed  of  my  Father,  and  I  can  not 
yet  go  uj)  to  Jerusalem.  Besides,  in  your  case  there  is  no 
danger  ;  for  the  vv^orld  does  not  thirst  for  your  blood  ;  but 
I  am  continually  exposed  to  the  machinations  and  violence 
of  sleepless  enemies.  Therefore,  go  up  to  the  feast,  and 
when  my  time  has  come,  I  will  go  up."  His  brethren 
departed,  doubtless  more  than  ever  at  a  loss  what  to  think. 

The  feast  has  now  opened ;  booths  have  covered  the 
parched  hills  and  valleys  with  sudden  ^verdure ;  every 
where  there  is  mirth  and  gladness,  "  thanksgiving  and 
the  voice  of  melody."  And  yet  the  feast  is  not  the  ab- 
sorbing theme.  In  the  vast  multitude,  there  is  one  topic 
of  conversation — a  topic  of  suj)reme  interest.  All  are 
inquiring  concerning  Jesus  the  Nazarene.  His  alert  and 
vigilant  adversaries,  the  Pharisees,  are  looking  around  for 
Him ;  expecting  Him  at  the  feast,  they  hope  to  see  their 
long  cherished  purpose  put  in  execution.  So  the  ques- 
tion goes  round  :  "  Where  is  He  f  Where  is  He  f  Have 
you  heard  of  His  being  in  the  cityf'  Many  call  Him  an 
impostor ;  but  there  are  not  wanting  those  who  boldly 
and  generously  defend  Him,  and  declare  that  He  is  no 
deceiver,  but  a  good  man  and  a  prophet.  Doubtless 
many  whom  He  has  healed  of  divers  diseases  are  present, 
telling  the  story  of  their  cure.  Here  is  a  man,  sur- 
rounded by  a  crowd  of  eager  listeners,  who  says,  "  I  was 
31 


482  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

a  leper;  driven  away  from  wife  and  children  and  home; 
my  flesh  was  white  and  ulcerated  from  the  crown  of 
my  head  to  my  feet ;  my  life  was  a  burden,  till  I  heard 
that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  could  heal  all  manner  of  disease ; 
and  I  went  to  Him,  and  kneeled  down  at  His  feet,  and 
said  to  Him  :  ^  Lord,  if  Thou  wilt,  Thou  canst  make  me 
clean;'  and  He  put  forth  His  hand,  and  said  to  me:  'I 
will,  be  thou  clean  ; '  and  immediately  I  felt  new  life 
rushing  through  my  veins,  and  my  flesh  came  upon  me 
like  the  flesh  of  a  child."  Yonder  is  a  man  addressing 
another  cluster  :  "  I  was  blind.  For  long  years  I  had  not 
seen  the  light  of  the  sun,  nor  the  green  grass,  nor  trees, 
nor  flowers,  nor  the  face  of  man  or  woman.  One  day,  as 
I  sat  by  the  w^ay-side,  I  heard  the  sound  of  a  great  mul- 
titude ;  and  they  told  me  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was 
passing  by.  And  I  cried  aloud,  and  my  heart  was  in  the 
cry, — 'Thou  Son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  me!'  Blind 
as  I  was,  I  arose  and  followed  Him  into  a  house,  and  then 
He  asked — methought  it  was  the  sweetest  voice  that  ever 
mortal  heard, — 'Believest  thou  that  I  am  able  to  do 
this?'  And  when  I  said:  'Yea,  Lord,'  He  touched  my 
sightless  eyes,  and  they  were  opened,  and  I  saw  Him,  and 
never  shall  I  forget  the  glory  and  love  that  beamed  upon 
me  from  His  face." 

In  another  place,  there  is  a  man  speaking  to  yet  an- 
other crowd :  "A  few  months  ago, I  was  a  wild  maniac  in 
Gadara.  I  dwelt  among  the  tombs,  day  and  night,  and 
none  came  near  me  for  fear ;  and  I  howled  like  a  wild 
beast,  and  cut  myself  wdtli  stones,  as  you  may  see  from 
these  scars.  One  day  I  saw  a  little  ship  approaching  the 
shore,  and  I  was  fllled  with  rage,  and  ran  toward  the  men 
who  came  out  of  the  ship  to  drive  them  back ;  but  when 
I  came  near,  I  saw  among  them  One  with  a  face  so  gentle 
and  Godlike,  that  I  grew  calm  in  His  presence ;  He  re- 
buked the  demons  that  tormented  me,  and  they  departed ; 


JESUS    AT    THE    FEAST    OF    TABERNACLES.  483 

and  I  sat  down  at  His  feet  and  loved  and  worshiped  Him, 
for  I  knew  He  was  the  Son  of  God."  Yonder  is  another 
witness :  "  I  am  the  only  son  of  my  mother,  and  she  is  a 
widow.  A  few  months  ago  disease  came  upon  me  ;  and  I 
died  in  my  mother's  arms ; — yes,  I  know  the  secrets  of 
the  under-world.  How  long  a  time  I  was  there  I  know 
not;  but  suddenly  a  mighty  voice  summoned  me  back  to 
my  body;  and  I  opened  my  eyes,  and  found  myself  on 
a  bier,  in  grave-clothes,  with  mourners  around  me.  But 
I  could  not  see  them,  for  the  face  of  Jesus  the  Nazarene 
was  bending  over  me, — and  Oh ! — the  glory  of  God  was 
in  that  face."  Still  farther  on,  within  a  booth,  is  a  little 
knot  of  women,  one  of  whom,  in  a  low,  sweet  voice,  is 
saying  :  "For  twelve  long  years  I  was  a  miserable  invalid. 
I  consulted  many  physicians,  and  spent  all  my  proj^erty 
in  the  purchase  of  medicines,  and  instead  of  being  healed, 
I  found  my  malady  increasing  year  after  3'ear.  At  last 
I  heard  of  Jesus,  the  ProiDhet  of  Nazareth ;  but  I  was 
^fraid  to  tell  Him  of  my  malady ;  and  so  I  mingled  in  the 
crowd  which  followed  Him,  and  drew  nigh  and  touched, 
as  if  by  chance,  the  hem  of  His  garment;  and  I  felt  in 
a  moment  that  I  was  healed ;  and  when  He  turned  and 
looked  at  me,  I  fell  down  and  told  Him  all,  and  He  sent 
me  aw^ay  with  words  of  comfort.  0  sisters,  is  not  this 
the  Christ?"  In  another  tent,  where  there  is  every  sign 
of  rank  and  wealth,  a  young  girl,  just  budding  into  wo- 
manhood, is  saying  to  her  father :  "  Father,  is  Jesus,  the 
good  Nazarene,  at  the  feast  ?  I  shall  never  forget  how 
glorious  He  looked  when  I  opened  my  eyes  from  that 
death-sleep  in  my  chamber,  as  I  heard  the  voice,  '  Maid, 
I  say  unto  thee  arise.'  0  father,  He  must  be  the  Son  of 
God."  There  is  a  man  in  the  garb  of  a  sailor :  "  Were 
you  speaking  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ?  I  know  that  He  is 
more  than  mortal.  Not  long  since  I  was  crossing  the  Seii 
of  Galilee  in  our  little  boat,  and  Jesus  with  His  disciples 


484  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

was  on  board  ;  and  there  arose  a  terrible  gale,  and  we 
were  in  danirer  of  froinc»:  to  the  bottom,  when  Jesus,  who 
had  been  sleeping,  looked  out  upon  the  angry  waves,  and 
said,  •  Peace,  be  still,'  and  in  a  moment  all  was  calm." 

Conversations  like  these,  containing  reports  of  our 
Lord's  miracles,  must  have  been  heard  everywhere,  and 
must  have  filled  the  public  mind ;  hence  there  was  a 
burning  curiosity  to  see  Him  and  hear  His  words.  There 
was  evidently  a  strong  popular  feeling  in  His  favor,  and 
that  feeling  would  probably  be  increased  by  such  conver- 
sations, for  we  must  suppose  that  many  witnesses  of  His 
wonderful  works  were  in  attendance  on  the  feast.  This 
was  probably  the  reason  why  our  Lord  judged  it  prudent 
to  delay  His  coming,  till  there  should  be  created  among 
the  multitude  at  Jerusalem,  such  an  enthusiasm  as  had 
made  His  residence  safe  in  Galilee.  Not  till  the  middle  or 
the  fourth  day  did  Jesus  make  His  appearance  at  Jerusa- 
lem. He  then  came  up  from  Galilee  secretly ;  and  sud- 
denly entering  the  temple,  began  to  teach.  The  form  of 
the  expression  in  the  original  intimates  that  He  delivered 
a  set  and  formal  discourse,  perhaps  in  the  sj'uagogue  which 
stood  in  the  court  of  the  women. 

The  people  were  wonder-struck  at  His  preaching,  and 
said :  "  How  knoweth  this  man  letters,  havino;  uever 
learned?"  They  were  accustomed  to  regard  the  rab- 
bins as  the  source  of  all  religious  knowledge,  so  much 
so  that  the  scribes  in  their  ordinary  teaching,  said  noth- 
ing on  their  own  authority,  but  always  referred  to  the 
rabbins  as  their  acknowledged  masters.  But  here  was 
a  Man  who  liad  never  been  in  any  school,  who  not  only 
expounded  the  law  and  the  prophets,  but  also  uttered 
original  doctrines  on  His  own  authority ;  whose  wonted 
formula  was  not  "  Rabbi  Jonathan,  or  Kabbi  Simeon  said 
80  and  so,"  but  "verily,  verily,  /  srxy  unto  you''  And 
then,  there  was  a  grace  and  a  majesty  in  His  teachings, 


JESUS  AT  TUE  FEAST  OF  TABEKXACLES.     485 

which  no  rabbi  or  scribe  ever  possessed.  Whence  had 
He  these  wonderM  doctrines  and  this  divine  eloquence  ? 
Jesus  expressly  declared  to  them,  "My  doctrine  is  not 
mine,  but  His  that  sent  Me."  And  He  gave  them  a  cri- 
terion by  which  to  judge  of  His  teachings.  "If  an}-  man 
will  do  His  will  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether 
it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  Myself  He  that 
speaketh  of  himself  seeketh  his  own  glory ;  but  He  that 
seeketh  His  glory  that  sent  Him  the  same  is  true,  and  no 
unrighteousness  is  in  Him." 

These  words  excited  the  rage  of  His  old  enemies,  some 
of  whom  were  present.  They  heard  Him  proclaim  Him- 
self publicly  a  Teacher  sent  from  God,  free  from  all  error 
and  sin ;  and  what  was  even  more  intolerable,  He  dis- 
tinctly declared  that  if  any  did  not  believe  His  teaching, 
it  was  because  they  were  not  obedient  to  the  will  of  God. 
Our  Lord  saw  their  rage ;  but  instead  of  softening  His 
language,  He  spoke  with  yet  greater  severity:  "Did  not 
Moses  give  you  the  law ;  and  yet  none  of  3  ou  keepeth 
the  law?  why  go  ye  about  to  kill  Me?"  "You  glory  in 
the  law  of  Moses,  and  boast  of  your  obedience  thereto;  yet 
at  this  moment  you  are  plotting  my  murder,  in  the  face 
of  the  commandment '  Thou  shalt  not  kill.'  Is  it  tJms  that 
you  keep  the  law  ? "  This  was  a  home-thrust ;  they  saw 
that  He  had  penetrated  their  murderous  designs,  and  they 
made  haste  to  deny  the  charge,  lest  the  people  should 
credit  it :  "  Thou  hast  a  devil :  who  goeth  about  to  kill 
thee?"  "You  are  a  maniac;  you  mistake  your  own  in- 
sane impressions  for  realities.  This  idea,  that  there  is  a 
plot  against  your  life,  is  a  figment  of  your  own  disordered 
fancy." 

Taking  no  notice  of  their  language,  equally  insulting 
and  crafty,  our  Lord  at  once  reverts  to  their  controversy 
with  Him  eighteen  months  before,  at  the  Feast  of  Dedica- 
tion, on  which  occasion  they  had  accused  him  of  Sabbath- 


486  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

breaking,  because  He  had  healed  the  impotent  man  on 
the  Sabbath  day.  "I  have  done  one  work,  and  ye  all 
marvel.  Mo^es  gave  you  circumcision,  not  indeed  be- 
cause it  was  of  Moses,  but  of  the  fathers ;  and  ye  on  the 
Sabbath  day  circumcise  a  man.  If  a  man  on  the  Sabbath 
da}'  receive  circumcision,  that  the  law  of  Moses  should 
not  be  broken,  are  ye  angry  at  Me  because  I  have  made 
a  man  every  whit  whole  on  the  Sabbath  day?  Judge 
not  according  to  appearance,  but  judge  righteous  judg- 
ment." This  was  unanswerable.  Surely,  to  heal  a  sick 
man  on  the  Sabbath  was  as  justifiable  as  to  perform  the 
rite  of  circumcision ;  and  that  was  acknowledged  by  all 
to  be  lawful,  and  even  obligatory. 

The  Pharisees  did  not  attempt  to  reply.  Their  silence, 
and  especially  their  inaction,  was  a  cause  of  some  per- 
plexity to  the  people.  "Why  is  it?"  they  begin  to  say 
within  themselves,  "  Is  not  this  He  whom  they  seek  to 
kill  ?  But  lo.  He  speaketh  boldly,  and  they  say  nothing 
to  Him.  Do  the  rulers  know  indeed  that  this  is  the  very 
Christ?"  "The  Pharisees  are  very  bold  in  His  absence, 
but  the}-  are  speechless  in  His  presence.  Is  it  possible 
that  they  have  a  secret  conviction,  after  all,  that  He  is 
the  true  Messiah  ?"  "  Howbeit,  we  know  this  man  whence 
He  is ;  but  when  Christ  cometh  no  man  knoweth  whence 
He  is."  This  man  is  from  Nazareth,  in  Galilee ;  but  the 
Christ  will  come  suddenly,  no  man  can  tell  how  or  whence. 
This,  it  seems,  was  a  popular  delusion,  utterly  without 
warrant  from  the  prophets.  Our  Lord  understanding 
what  they  were  saying,  acknowledged  that  it  was  true, 
in  a  certain  sense,  that  they  knew  whence  He  came,  and 
yet  they  knew  not:  "Ye  both  know  Me,  and  ye  know 
whence  1  am ;  and  I  am  not  come  of  myself,  but  He  that 
sent  Me  is  true,  whom  ye  know  not."  They  knew  Him. 
according  to  the  flesh  ;  they  knew  Him  as  the  son  of 
Joseph  and  Mary,  they  knew  He  had  been  a  carpenter  at 


JESUS    AT    THE    FEAST    OF    TABERNACLES.  487 

Nazareth,  but  His  true  generation  they  could  not  declare; 
they  knew  not  He  was  the  incarnate  Son  of  the  hving 
God,  and  that  as  such,  He  was  the  Lord  from  heaven. 
"Thus  does  He  return  to  the  principle  that  only  tho^re 
who  know  God,  and  belong  to  Him  in  heart,  (i.  e.,  who 
really  endeavor  to  do  His  will,)  can  be  in  a  condition  to 
recognize  the  law  of  God  in  His  self-manifestation,  and 
to  acknowledge  that  He  is  from  heaven.  Those  who  are 
estranged  from  God,  and  slaves  to  sense,  think  they  know 
Him,  but  in  fact  do  not.* 

Our  Lord's  words  were  favorably  received  by  the  peo- 
ple :  "  When  Christ  cometh,"  said  they, "  will  He  do  more 
miracles  than  these  which  this  man  hath  done  ? "  His 
enemies,  however,  irritated  by  these  expressions  of  the 
popular  good-will  toward  Jesus,  sought  to  seize  Him. 
Orders  appear  to  have  been  issued  by  the  chief  priests 
and  Pharisees  to  have  Him  arrested,  though  they  were 
not  carried  into  immediate  effect.  Aware  of  these  facts, 
Jesus  seizes  upon  them,  and  with  so  bold  and  direct  an 
allusion  as  must  for  the  moment  have  confounded  His 
adversaries.  "  You  seek  to  rid  yourselves  of  Me  by  law- 
less violence.  You  shall  have  your  wish.  'Yet  a  little 
while  I  am  with  you,  and  then  I  go  unto  the  Father.'  But 
you  will  succeed  to  your  sorrow.  When  I  am  gone,  and 
when  it  is  too  late, '  Ye  shall  seek  Me,  and  shall  not  find 
Me ;  and  where  I  am  thither  ye  can  not  come.'  Ye  shall 
seek  the  Christ  whom  you  now  reject;  you  shall  long 
look  and  anxiously  wait  for  Him ;  but  all  in  vain." 
Xhese  words  were  a  riddle  to  the  multitude  :  "  Whither 
will  He  go,"  say  they,  "  that  we  shall  not  find  Him  ?  Will 
He  go  unto  the  dispersed  among  the  Gentiles  ?  What 
manner  of  saying  is  this,  that  He  said.  Ye  shall  seek  Me, 
and  shall  not  find  Me,  and  where  I  am  thither  ye  can  not 

*Neander's  "Life  of  Christ,"  page  293. 


488  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIIIIST. 

come?"  0  ye  blind,  unbelieving  hearts!  Ye  shall  un- 
derstand these  words,  after  ye  have  imbrued  your  hands 
in  the  blood  of  }our  King,  and  He  shall  have  ascended 
to  His  throne  in  heaven.  For  eighteen  hundred  years 
ye  have  sought  your  King,  and  have  not  found  Ilim ;  but 
ye  shall  see  Him  when  He  cometh  in  the  clouds,  and 
shall  wail  because  of  Him.* 


*  Eevelatious  i.  7. 


CHAPTER    IX. 
THE  FEAST  OF   TABERNACLES— CONTINUED. 


THE  LAST  DAY  OF  THE  FEAST — JESUS  DECLARES  HIMSELF  THE  FOUNTAIN 
OF  LIFE — THE  MULTITUDE  CONVINCED,  AND  THE  OFFICERS  OF  THE 
SANHEDRIM  DISARMED — THE  SANHEDRIM  IN  SESSION — THEY  REBUKE 
THE  OFFICERS  AND  REVILE  NICODEMUS — JESUS  DECLARES  HIMSELF 
THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  WORLD  —  CLOSING  DISPUTE  WITH  THE  JEWS — THEY 
BECOME    ENRAGED    AND    TRY    TO    STONE    HIM — HE    ESCAPES. 

John'  vii.  3V-52;  viii.  12-59. 

Our  history  now  brings  ns  to  the  last,  the  great  clay 
of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  which  was  the  Sabbath.  At 
an  early  hour,  the  jDeople  leave  their  tents,  bearing  in 
their  hands  branches  of  palm,  olive,  citron,  myrtle,  and 
willow,  and  crying :  "  Hosanna,  save  I  beseech  thee."  * 
It  must  have  been  a  grand  and  imposing  spectacle,  to 
see  hundreds  of  thousands  moving  with  loud  jubilation 
towards  the  temple.  In  the  temple  itself,  the  pomp  of 
dreadful  sacrifice  meets  their  eyes ;  and  while  the  very 
walls  are  shaken  with  the  sound  of  trumpets  and  cym- 
bals, of  harps  and  psalteries,  of  stringed  instruments  and 
organs,  of  timbrels  and  shawms,  they  commence  their 
solemn  yet  joyous  procession  around  the  great  altar. 
Seven  times,  led  by  the  priests  and  Levites,  they  make 
the  circuit  of  the  altar, 

"  And  the  tumult  of  their  acclaim  is  rolled 
Through  the  open  gates  of  the  city  afar ;  " 

Psalms  cxviii.  25. 


490  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

and  the  echoes  of  the  mighty  joy.  stir  the  groves  and 
vineyards  of  Mount  Olivet,  and  reverberate  among  the 
rocks  far  down  the  valley  of  Jchoshaphat. 

It  was  a  grand  and  thrilling  moment,  when  the  priests, — 
we  learn  this  from  the  rabbins, — dre^v^yater  from  the  foun- 
tain of  Siloam, — which  was  in  the  temple-mount  "  fast  by 
^the  oracle  of  God," — in  a  golden  vessel,  singing  the  words 
of  Isaiah,  "With  joy  shall  ye  draw  water  out  of  the  wells 
of  salvation."*  And  the  spectacle  must  have  been  still 
more  impressive,  when  towards  evening,  the  two  immense 
chandeliers  which  huno;  in  the  court  of  the  women  were 
lighted  up,  and  flooded  the  wdiole  temple  area  with  daz- 
zling splendor.  These  ceremonies  had  a  profound  spir- 
itual significance  of  which  the  priest  and  the  people  were 
alike  ignorant,  but  which  our  Lord  knew  and  employed 
with  wonderful  beauty  and  effect  in  the  continuation  of 
His  discourse.  It  was,  we  conjecture,  either  just  before,  or 
immediately  after  the  water  was  poured  from  the  golden 
vessel  upon  the  altar,  that  Jesus  stood  and  cried,  saying, 
"If  any  man  thirst  let  him  come  unto  Me  and  drink.  He 
that  believeth  on  Mo,  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  out  of 
his  belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water ; " — language 
wonderfully  suggestive  of  the  overflow^ing  fulness  of  the 
life  that  is  in  Jesus,  and  which  was  to  revive  and  clothe 
with  beauty  a  parched  and  dying  world.  "  This  He  spake 
of  the  spirit,  which  they  that  believe  on  Him  should 
receive."  f 

These  words  fell  with  unwonted  powder  on  the  ears  of 
the  multitude.     Some   indeed    still   cavilled  and    raised 

*  Isaiah  xii.  3. 

t  The  note  of  the  cvani^olist  on  these  words  of  Christ  is  of  great  impor- 
tance to  the  right  understanding  of  tlic  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  its  relation 
to  the  incarnation.  "  This  spake  He  of  the  Spirit  which  they  that  believe 
on  Him  should  receive.  For  the  HDly  (J host  was  not  yet  given,  [Greek  : 
was  not,']  because  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified,"  (vii.  39.)     The  gift  of  the 


FEAST    OF    TABERNACLES CONTINUED.  491 

objections  to  His  being  the  Christ.  But  others,  and  it 
would  seem  the  greater  number,  for  no  man  dared  lay 
hands  on  Him,  said :  "  Of  a  truth  this  is  the  Prophet," — 
"  This  is  the  Christ."  Even  the  officers  who  had  Ijeen  sent 
to  arrest  Him,  caught  the  general  feeling,  and  were  awe- 
struck and  spell-bound  by  the  majesty  of  the  speaker,  and 
the  power  of  His  divine  eloquence.  Meanwhile  the  chief 
priests  and  rulers  continue  to  sit  in  conclave,  expecting 
every  moment  that  He  would  be  brought  before  them. 
What  a  scene  for  the  painter  would  that  stone  chamber 
have  presented  at  that  moment!  There  were  priests  in 
their  sacred  vestments,  Pharisees  with  their  broad  phy- 
lacteries, scribes  and  rabbins,  all  sitting  with  lowering 
brows  and  stern,  cruel  resolve  in  every  face.  Did  I  say 
all?  No, — there  is  at  least  one  exception.  Among  the 
rulers  is  one  of  mild  yet  anxious  and  sorrowful  counte- 
nance, who  feels  that  a  great  crime  is  about  to  be  perpe- 
trated, yet  who  knows  not  how  to  prevent  it.  This  is 
Nicodemus  who  came  to  Jesus  by  night,  and  wdio  is  at 
heart  a  disciple,  though  he  conceals  it  from  his  colleagues. 
There  they  sit  waiting  for  their  messengers  to  return, 
impatient  and  wrathful  at  their  delay. 

At  last  they  come,  but  without  a  prisoner,  "  Why  have 
ye  not  brought  Him  ?"  they  ask.  "  Never  man  spake  like 
this  man,"  is  the  honest  answer.  They  had  l^een  so  sub- 
dued by  His  discourse  that  they  found  it  impossible  to 
arrest  Him.  "Are  ye  also  deceived!"  "Are  ye,  officers 
of  the  Sanhedrim,  deceived  also  ?  Have  any  of  the  rulers 
or  the   Pharisees  believed  on   Him  ?      Has  this  heresy 

Spirit  is  here  represented  as  in  some  sense  new,  and  as  conditioned  on  the 
glorification  of  Christ's  humanity.  The  explanation  seems  to  ha  that  the 
Holy  Ghost,  who  proceeds  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  became  liy  the  in- 
carnation and  glorification  of  the  Son,  the  Spirit  of  the  God-man;  and  when 
poured  out  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  He  imparted  to  the  church  the  fulness  and 
power  of  the  Lord's  divine  hum.an  life.     Thus  the  church  became  His  hodij. 


492  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

spread  even  to  our  own  body  ?  Are  there  traitors  among 
ourselves?"  Nicodemus  now  puts  in  a  wise  and  just 
though  timid  word  :  "Doth  our  hiw  judge  any  man  before 
it  hear  him?"  Is  it  just  in  30U  to  condemn  without  an 
impartial  trial?  They  turn  upon  him  with  a  fierce  look 
of  suspicion  and  menace:  "Art  thou  also  of  Galilee? 
Search  and  look,  for  out  of  Galilee  ariseth  no  prophet." 
"  What,  are  you  a  Galilean  ?  Do  you  fraternize  with  this 
Nazarene  prophet?  We  will  have  an  eye  upon  you, 
Nicodemus.  We  know  that  no  prophet  comes  from  Gali- 
lee." Nicodemus  does  not  reply.  And  so  the  session 
breaks  up,  and  the  rulers  disperse. 

The  day  was  now  well-nigh  spent ;  and  the  twilight 
was  coming  on.  It  w^as  probably  when  the  great  chan- 
deliers were  lighted  in  the  temple-court,  that  Jesus  cried, 
"I  am  the  Light  of  the  world;  he  that  followeth  Me 
shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life." 
The  Pharisees  answer  Him,  "  Thou  bearest  record  of  Thy- 
self, and  Thy  record  is  not  true."  Our  Lord  replies,  boldly 
asserting  the  truthfulness  of  His  record,  and  adding, — 
perhaps  with  the  scene  in  mind  which  liad  just  transpired 
in  the  Sanhedrim,  and  with  which  these  Pharisees  were 
acquainted, — "  Ye  judge  after  the  flesh,  I  judge  no  man. 
And  yet  if  I  judge,  my  judgment  is  true,  for  I  am  not 
alone,  but  I  and  My  Father  are  one."  Conscious  that  our 
Lord  had  penetrated  the  secrets  of  the  conclave  which 
had  just  Ijeen  plotting  against  Him,  they  were  abashed, 
and  "  no  man  laid  hands  on  Him." 

The  scene  now  takes  upon  itself  a  deeper  and  more 
exciting  interest.  The  disputants  become  thoroughly 
arou.sed.  Declaration  and  rejoinder  follow  each  other  in 
rapid  succession,  sometimes  quick  and  sharp,  like  angry 
flashes  of  lightning.  Our  Lord,  with  a  boldness  awful 
and  startling,  probes  the  Jewish  heart  to  the  bottom,  lay- 
ing open  all  its  unbelief  and  obduracy.     Stung  by  the 


FEAST    OF    TABERNACLES CONTINUED.  493 

truthfulness  as  well  as  the  severity  of  His  language,  the 
Jews  retort  upon  Him  in  terms  the  most  bitter  and  insultr 
ing.  Things  are  evidently  drawing  to  a  crisis.  The  tem- 
l^est  of  passion  which  has  been  all  day  gathering  in  the 
heart  of  this  excited  and  now  angry  multitude,  must  ere 
long  burst  upon  the  head  of  Jesus.  Conscious  of  all  this, 
He  nevertheless  continues  His  discourse.  He  begins  by 
reannouncing  His  speedy  departure ;  He  reaffirms  the 
utter  incorrigibleness  of  the  Jews ;  He  again  pronounces 
their  doom :  "  Ye  shall  die  in  your  sins,  and  whither  I  go 
ye  can  not  come."  His  adversaries  turn  upon  Him  with 
the  mocking  query,  "'Will  He  kill  Himself?'  does  He 
intend  to  consign  Himself  to  perdition  by  suicide,  thus 
cutting  us  off  from  the  power  to  join  Him  in  a  future 
state?"  Paying  no  heed  to  their  scoffing,  Jesus  presses 
the  truth  home  still  more  closely,  denouncing  them  as 
earthly  and  sensual^  and  declaring  that  it  is  because  of 
this  earthliness  and  their  consequent  unbelief,  that  they 
are  condemned  to  death.  They  venture  no  reply,  but 
meet  Him  with  a  new  scoff:  "Who  art  Thou?"  "Even 
the  same  that  I  said  unto  you  from  the  beginning,"  is  the 
reply,  "and  by  virtue  of  the  divine  authority  vested  in 
Me,  'I  have  many  things  to  say  and  to  judge  of  you.'" 
Jesus  then  goes  on  to  declare  that  His  divine  character 
and  authority  would  eventually  be  recognized  by  the 
Jews  themselves :  "  When  ye  have  lifted  up  the  Son  of 
man,  then  shall  ye  know  that  I  am  Tie  ;  and  that  I  do 
nothing  of  Myself;  but  as  My  Father  hath  taught  Me,  I 
speak  these  things."  The  majesty  of  our  Lord's  manner, 
and  the  sublimity  of  the  truth  He  uttered,  carried  convic- 
tion to  the  hearts  of  His  hearers.  "As  He  spake  these 
words  many  believed  on  Him." 

Turning  now  to  the  group  of  disciples  and  others  who 
believed  on  Him,  who  would  naturally  gather  immedi- 
ately about  His  person,  He  proceeds  to  set  forth  the  free- 


494  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

dom  to  be  found  in  true  faith;  the  glorious  liberty  of  the 
gospel :  "  If  ye  continue  in  My  word,  then  are  ye  My  dis- 
ciples indeed.  And  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free."  Ilis  enemies,  standing  fiirther 
off,  and  perhaps  not  distinctly  catching  His  language,  un- 
derstand it  as  a  retlection  upon  themselves,  as  implj'ing 
that  they  are  in  bondage.  So  they  call  out  to  Him, ''  We 
be  Abraham's  seed,  and  were  never  in  bondage  to  any 
man."  "  I  speak  not  of  temporal  bondage,"  answers  Jesus, 
"  but  of  spiritual  bondage."  "  Whosoever  committeth  sin 
is  the  servant  of  sin ;  is  a  slave  to  the  devil.  What- 
ever other  freedom  you  possess,  so  long  as  you  remain  in 
this  spiritual  thralldom,  it  is  nothing.  As  to  your  boast 
of  your  descent  from  Abraham,  to  what  does  it  amount, 
so  long  as  3'ou  have  apostatized  from  the  faith  of  Abra- 
ham, and  show  j^ourselves  to  be  altogether  a  corrupt  and 
degenerate  stock  ?  Your  hearts  are  full  of  hatred  and 
violence ;  you  are  even  now^  seeking  to  kill  Me ;  Abra- 
ham did  no  such  thin£i:s  as  these.  Ye  do  the  deeds  of 
your  father;  but  it  is  very  evident  that  he  is  not  Abraham." 
To  this  His  enemies  reply  w^ith  indignation,  as  though  He 
had  charged  upon  them  a  vicious  corruption  of  their  very 
stock  and  blood :  "  We  be  not  1jorn  of  fornication,"  arro- 
gantly adding,  "  we  have  one  Father,  even  God."  To 
this  assumption,  Jesus  replies  with  terrible  severity:  '''If 
God  were  your  Father,  you  would  love  Me,'  which  you 
evidently  do  not.  Your  assumption  is  utterly  false.  'Ye 
are  of  your  father  the  devil,'  and  the  works  of  your 
father, — falsehood  and  murder, — ye  will  do."  Tiiis  was 
too  much  to  be  endured.  Exasperated  to  the  utmost,  the 
Jews  angrily  exclaimed,  "  Thou  art  a  Samaritan  and  hast 
a  devil."  The  roph*  of  Jesus,  though  singularly  calm, 
did  not  allay  the  intensity  of  their  rage ;  they  only 
reiterated  the  charge  with  increased  violence,  "  Now  we 
know  thou  hast  a  devil." 


FEAST    OF    TABERNACLES CONTINUED.  405 

At  this  stage  of  the  discourse,  or  rather  dialogue,  our 
Lord  startled  and  thrilled  His  hearers  with  the  words,  not 
obviously  connected  with  what  had  gone  before  :  "  Yerily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  If  a  man  keep  My  saying  he  shall 
never  see  death."  This  struck  His  enemies  as  so  amaz- 
ingly absurd  that  it  was  a  sufficient  proof  of  His  insan- 
ity. "  Now  we  know,"  said  they,  "  that  Thou  hast  a  devil. 
Abraham  is  dead,  and  the  prophets ;  and  Thou  sayest.  If 
a  man  keep  my  saying,  he  shall  never  taste  of  death. 
Art  thou  greater  than  our  father  Abraham  who  is  dead  ? 
and  the  prophets  are  dead  ;  whom  makest  thou  Thyself?" 
Jesus  declaring  that  His  honor  was  from  God  alone,  and 
that  He  alone  knew  the  Father  and  kept  His  sayings, 
continued :  "  Your  father  Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my 
day ;  and  he  saw  it,  and  was  glad."  Oh,  these  l^lind  Jews! 
not  a  glimmering  ray  of  our  Lord's  meaning  penetrated 
their  minds.  There  was  a  sense,  one  would  think,  that 
even  they  might  have  apprehended,  in  which  Abraham 
rejoiced  to  see  the  day  of  Christ ;  for  the  patriarch  was 
largely  endowed  with  prophetic  foresight;  they  were,  how- 
ever, not  only  blind,  but  just  now  in  an  angry  and  cavil- 
ing mood  ;  hence  they  would  miderstand  Jesus  as  claiming 
that  He  had  been  contemporary  with  Abraham :  '•'  Thou 
art  not  yet  fifty  years  old,  and  hast  Thou  seen  Abraham?" 
The  answer  of  Jesus  has  been,  ever  since  it  was  uttered,  a 
stone  of  stumbling  and  a  rock  of  offense  to  all  impugners 
of  His  eternal  divinity :  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you. 
Before  Abraham  was,  I  am."  Had  He  merely  said,  "Be- 
fore Ahraham  was,  I  existed^'  His  hearers  might  have 
attributed  the  utterance  to  the  disturbed  consciousness  of 
insanity  ;  but  when  He  said,  "  Before  Abraham  was,  I  am," 
they  regarded  it  as  a  monstrous  blasphem}^ ;  for  this  was 
the  very  language  of  Him  who  dwelt  in  the  bush.  They 
understood  Him,  and  rightly  understood  Him,  to  assert 
tlip.t  He  had  a  beins:  above  time  and  succession.     Carried 


490  THE    LIFE    OF    CIlllIST. 

away  by  mingled  rage  and  horror,  they  took  up  stones  tc 
stone  Ilhn ;  and  doubtless  but  for  His  sudden  and  unac- 
countable disappearance,  ("  He  hid  Himself,  and  went  out 
of  the  temple,  going  through  the  midst  of  them,  and  so 
passed  by,")  He  would  have  been  slain  on  the  spot. 

We  can  not  doubt  that  Jesus,  on  this  occasion,  gave 
deliberate  expression  to  that  consciousness  of  eternity 
which  was  immanent  in  His  divine  nature.  Indeed,  His 
words  are  the  mysterious  yet  not  irrational  utterance  of 
a  Being  who  is  at  once  God  and  man.  In  the  first  clause, 
"Before  Abraham  was," — is  expressed  a  human  conscious- 
ness of  tune;  but  the  next,  "/am,"  rises  at  once  above 
the  laws  of  human  thouo-ht  into  the  reurion  of  the  time- 

o  o 

less  and  absolute,  and  is  the  sublime  symbol  rather  than 
the  adequate  expression,  of  a  self-consciousness  to  wdiich 
one  day  is  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as 
one  day — a  self-consciousness  which  embraces  the  ages — 
the  eternities — in  an  unsuccessive  and  immovable  now — 
a  self-consciousness  that  ever  dwelt  in  the  Man  Christ 
Jesus,  and  sometimes  flashed  forth  in  words  of  super- 
natural splendor  and  power. 


CHAPTER    X. 
THE  WOMAN  ACCUSED  BY  THE   PHARISEES. 

THE  PHARISEES  BRING  TO  JESUS  A  WOMAN  TAKEN  IN  ADULTERY — THEIR 
MOTIVES — THEIR  QUESTION — OUR  LORD's  JUDGMENT — THEY  RETIRE 
CONFOUNDED  —  THE  WOMAN  ADMONISHED  AND  DISMISSED  —  REFLEC- 
TIONS. 

John  vii.  53;  viii.  1-12. 

On  a  certain  morning,  Jesus,  having  spent  the  night  on 
the  Mount  of  Olives,  went  early  to  the  temple,  and  the 
people  came  flocking  to  Him,  to  hear  His  teaching  *  His 
ubiquitous  enemies,  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  were  also 
there,  on  an  extraordinary  errand.  A  certain  woman, — 
who  is  nameless, — had  been  detected  in  a  flagrant  breach 
of  her  marriage  covenant,  and  led  away  for  trial.  Her 
accusers,  equally  void  of  humanity  and  shame,  deter- 
mined to  take  advantage  of  the  sad  incident  to  elicit  from 
Jesus,  if  possible,  a  judgment  opposed  to  the  law  of 
Moses.     They  knew  with  what  tenderness  our  Lord  had 

*I  assume  that  the  discourse  of  our  JjOtA,  recorded  John  viii.  12-69, 
was  spoken  on  the  last  day  of  the  feast,  in  connection  with  that  recorded 
in  chapter  vii.  37-52,  and  that  the  story  of  the  adulteress  (vii.  53 ;  viii.  1-1 1 , ) 
is  here  oiU  of  place.  Its  authenticity  is  unquestionable ;  but  it  evidently 
belongs  in  another  connection,  probably  at  the  close  of  Luke  xxi.  The 
question  is  rather  fully  discussed  by  Alford  in  loco,  to  whom  the  reader  is 
referred.  Stier,  Ebrard,  and  some  other  eminent  scholars,  contend  for  the 
genuineness  of  the  passage  and  for  its  correct  location  in  John's  gospel;  but 
they  have  failed  to  convince  me.  In  accordance  with  my  rule,  I  follow  in 
this  difficult  case  what  appears  to  me  the  best  authority.  Any  discussion  of 
the  question  in  such  a  work  as  this  would  be  out  of  place. 
32 


498  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

sometimes  treated  notorious  sinners,  and  they  confidently 
expected  that  in  this  case  His  compassion  would  lead 
Him  to  pronounce  a  mild  decision.  They  led  the  woman 
through  the  streets  in  a  sort  of  procession,  exposing  her, 
doubtless,  to  the  ribald  jeers  of  a  prurient  mob,  and 
brought  her  into  that  part  of  the  temple  where  Jesus  sat 
teaching  the  people.  It  was  an  irruption  of  reeking  sen- 
suality, coarseness  and  hypocrisy.  The  holy  place  was  at 
once  filled  with  the  very  atmosphere  of  hell. 

The  accusers,  without  introduction  or  apology,  declare 
in  the  broadest  terms  their  infamous  errand :  "  Master, 
this  woman  was  taken  in  adultery,  in  the  very  act.  Now 
Moses  in  the  law  commanded  us  that  such  should  be 
stoned;  but  what  sayest  Thou?"  It  was  not  true  that 
Moses  had  commanded  that  the  adulteress  should  be 
stoned ;  but  he  had  commanded  that  both  the  adulterer 
and  the  adulteress  should  be  put  to  death*  Why  the 
accusers  had  only  arrested  one  of  the  parties  in  this  case, 
does  not  appear.  The  woman  was  seized ;  her  probably 
more  guilty  paramour  had  been  suffered  to  escape.  Alas, 
a  like  unjust  partiality  in  the  treatment  of  the  vicious 
has  prevailed  in  all  ages.  Our  Lord,  thus  interrupted  in 
His  heavenly  discourse,  feels  the  manifestations  of  human 
depravity,  so  suddenly  forced  upon  His  notice,  like  a 
wound.  "  The  shame  of  the  deed  itself,  and  the  brazen 
hardness  of  the  prosecutors,  the  legality  that  had  no  jus- 
tice and  did  not  even  pretend  to  have  any  mercy,  the  reli- 
gious malice  that  could  make  its  advantage  of  the  ruin  and 
ignominous  death  of  a  fellow-creature — all  this  was  eagerly 
and  rudely  thrust  before  His  mind.  The  effect  upon  Him 
was  such  as  might  have  been  produced  upon  many  since, 
but  perhaps  upon  scarcely  any  man  that  ever  lived  before. 
He  was  seized  with  an  intolerable  sense  of  shame.     He 

*  Deuteronomy  xxii.  22.     Leviticus  xx.  10. 


THE    ADULTERESS.  499 

could  not  meet  the  eye  of  the  crowd,  or  of  the  accusers ; 
perhaps  of  the  woman  least  of  all.  To  hide  the  glowing 
blush  upon  His  face,  He  stooped  down  and 'began  writing 
with  His  finger  on  the  ground."* 

Perhaps  this  was  also  intended  to  signify  to  the  people 
that  this  was  a  matter  quite  aside  from  His  mission — a 
case  with  which  He  had  no  concern.  But  His  enemies 
were  resolved  that  He  should  pronounce  a  judgment; 
they  continued  to  urge  their  question.  And  He  gave 
them  a  judgment,  but  not  such  as  they  expected.  Rais- 
ing His  head  a  moment,  the  flush  of  wounded  purity  and 
holy  indignation  still  upon  His  face.  He  said  simply :  "  He 
that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let  him  first  cast  a  stone  at 
her."  The  words  flashed  an  awful  light  into  their  con- 
sciences. They  forgot  the  crime  of  this  w^oman ;  they 
were  compelled  to  look  steadfastly  at  their  own  sins — 
sins  probably  of  the  same  nature  with  hers — and  in  the 
presence  of  Purity  they  felt  themselves  vile  and  guilty. 
Their  secret  sins  were,  then  and  there,  set  in  the  light  of 
God's  countenance.  Confounded  and  smitten  with  terror, 
they  began  one  after  another  to  slink  away  from  the  place, 
till  at  length  all  had  departed. 

When  Jesus  saw  the  woman  standing  alone,  He  said 
to  her :  "  Woman,  where  are  those  thine  accusers  ?  Hath 
no  man  condemned  thee?  She  said:  No  man.  Lord. 
And  Jesus  said  unto  her :  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee  ; 
go,  and  sin  no  more."  These  words  present  no  such 
ethical  difficulty  as  many  of  the  ancient  commentators 
found  in  them.  Never  was  the  sin  of  unchastity  more 
fearfully  judged  and  condemned  than  by  our  Lord  on  this 
occasion.  He  does  not  extenuate  her  guilt.  But  He 
was  not  sent  to  condemn  but  to  save.  He  uniformly  de- 
clined to  act  as  a  judge  in  temporal  matters.    He  had  not 

*  Ecce  Homo,  page  116. 


500  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

received  authority  to  act  as  a  civil  magistrate.  Therefore 
He  did  not  condemn  her,  but  dismissed  her  with  an 
admonition  to'  sin  no  more.  lie  probably  saw  in  her 
the  beginnings  of  true  penitence ;  and  we  can  not  but 
hope  that  she  went  away  to  deplore,  with  godly  sorrow, 
her  great  crime.  Perhaps  "society"  never  forgave  her: 
but  the  gate  of  divine  mercy  was  not  closed  against  her. 
Perhaps  even  she  is  now  a  white-robed  saint  among  the 
blessed  in  paradise.  There  is  redemption  in  Christ  for 
the  fallen ;  and  not  less  for  fallen  women  than  for  others 


CHAPTER   XI. 

JESUS  HEALS  THE  BLIND   MAN   ON  THE  SABBATH. 

THE  DISCIPLES  QUESTION  JESUS  AS  TO  THE  BLIND  MAN— OCCASION  OF 
Tlliaii  PERPLEXITY — OUR  LORD'S  REPLY — RELATION  OF  THE  DIVINE 
PLAN  TO  THE  CASE — JESUS  HEALS  THE  BLIND  MAN — WHY  JESUS 
ANOINTED  HIS  EYES  WITH  CLAY — SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  TERM  81- 
LOAM — THE  BLIND  MAN  QUESTIONED  BY  HIS  NEIGHBORS  AND  BY  THE 
SANHEDRIM — THE  PHARISEES  QUESTION  HIS  PARENTS — THE  BLIND 
MAN  RE-EXAMINED — HE  DEFENDS  THE  DIVINE  CLAIM  OF  JESUS — HE 
IS  CAST  OUT  OF  THE  SYNAGOGUE  BY  THE  PHARISEES — HIS  SUBSEQUENT 
CONFERENCE  WITH  JESUS— REASONS  FOR  HEALING  THE  BLIND  MAN 
ON    THE    SABBATH. 

John  ix.  2-38. 

As  our  Lord  and  His  apostles  passed  out,  they  saw  a 
man  who  was  born  blind.  Probably  he  was  a  well-known 
beggar,  whom  they  had  often  seen  in  the  same  place,  and 
whose  history  w^as  public.  As  they  passed  by,  the  disci- 
ples asked  their  Lord,  "  Master,  who  did  sin,  this  man,  or 
his  parents,  that  he  w\as  born  blind?"  This,  it  must  be 
confessed,  was  an  extraordinary  question.  If  they  had 
only  asked,  whether  the  affliction  was  caused  by  the  sin 
of  his  parents,  their  words  would  have  presented  no  diffi- 
culty ;  for  we  know  in  fact  that  the  sins  of  parents  are 
visited  upon  their  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  gen- 
eration ;  but  what  could  they  have  meant  by  asking 
whether  the  man's  blindness  was  caused  by  his  own  sins  ? 
The  apostles,  in  common  with  all  right-minded  men,  in- 
stinctively believed  that  a  connection  existed  between  sin 
and  suffering ;  but  the  trouble  was,  that  they  could  con- 
ceive of  no  sin  which  was  not  an  individual  transgression 


502  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

of  the  divine  law.  They  could  not  conceive  of  a  de- 
praved organic  life,  a  corrupt  nature  in  the  race  itself. 
They  stood  upon  the  ground  occupied  by  all  superficial 
theologians,  that  all  sin  is  actual,  and  holding  at  the  same 
time  that  all  natural  evil  is  caused  by  sin,  this  case  of  con- 
genital blindness  presented  a  difficulty  which  they  could 
not  solve.  Had  thev  understood  the  doctrine  of  orio-inal 
sin,  as  set  forth  afterwards  by  the  apostle  Paul,  and  held 
by  orthodox  Christians  in  subsequent  ages,  they  would 
neither  have  felt  the  difhculty  nor  asked  the  question. 

But  how  could  they  think  it  possible  that  the  actual 
sins  of  the  man  himself  could  have  been  the  cause  of  his 
blindness  when  he  was  horn  blind  ?  The  true  answer  is 
probably  this :  they  had  heard  of  the  doctrine  of  the  pre- 
existence  of  souls,  and  perhaps  partly  believed  it;  and 
they  thought  that  this  affliction  might  have  been  a  judg- 
ment upon  him  for  his  sins  in  an  ante-natal  life.  This 
doctrine  had  long  been  current  among  the  heathen.  Py- 
thagoras had  borrowed  the  doctrine  of  the  transmigration 
of  souls  from  the  eastern  sages,  many  years  before  this 
time,  and  it  is  altogether  credible  that  it  had  long  been 
familiar  to  the  Jews.  There  is  positive  evidence  that  it 
was  held  by  the  Pharisees,  though  some  think  they  had 
not  embraced  it  in  the  time  of  Christ.  But  there  is  rea- 
son to  believe  that  it  was  already  a  settled  article  of 
their  creed.  This  we  may  infer  from  their  own  words  to 
this  very  man,  after  he  was  healed :  "Thou  wast  altogether 
})orn  in  sins."  This  interpretation  is  unforced  and  simple ; 
and  is  supported  by  many  eminent  commentators,  ancient 
and  modern. 

Our  Lord,  in  His  reply,  only  declared  so  much  truth 
as  the  disciples  were  qualified  to  receive.  "Neither  hath 
thin  man  sinned,  nor  his  parents  ;  but  that  the  works  of 
God  should  be  manifest  in  him."  We  are  not  to  under- 
stand this  as  a  denial  of  the  connection  between  sin  and 


HEALING    OF    THE    BLIND    MAN.  503 

suffering  in  general, — a  truth  which  our  Lord  on  other 
occasions  plainly  declared ;  but  He  tells  them  that  the 
personal  transgressions  of  this  man  and  his  parents  had 
nothing  to  do  with  his  aflliction.  In  this  particular  case, 
a  merciful  purpose  was  to  be  answered.  This  man  was 
preordained  to  be  a  medium  of  showing  forth  the  mighty* 
w^orks  of  God.  The  Lord  neither  denies  the  sin  of  the 
blind  man  nor  that  of  his  parents ;  all  that  He  does  is  to 
turn  away  His  disciples  from  that  most  harmful  practice 
of  diving  down  with  cruel  surmises  into  the  secret  of 
other  men's  lives,  and  like  the  friends  of  Job,  assuming 
hidden  sins  to  be  the  cause  of  their  unusual  sufferings. 
"  This  blindness,"  He  would  say,  "  is  due  to  no  j^eciiUar 
sin  on  his  own  part,  or  that  of  his  parents.  Seek,  there- 
fore, neither  here  nor  there  for  the  cause  of  his  calamity ; 
but  see  what  more  just  and  merciful  explanation  the  evil 
in  the  world,  and  this  evil  in  particular,  is  capable  of  re- 
ceiving. The  purpose  of  the  life-long  blindness  of  this 
man  is  that  the  works  of  God  should  be  manifest  in  him ; 
and  that,  through  it  and  its  removal,  the  grace  and  glory 
of  God  misfht  be  ma^i-nified." 

The  Avords  of  Christ  immediately  following  refer  to  the 
short  duration  of  His  earthly  ministry:  "I  must  work  the 
works  of  Plim  that  sent  me,  while  it  is  day ;  the  night 
cometh  wdien  no  man  can  work."  Passing  from  this.  He 
adds  with  particular  reference  to  the  healing  of  the  blind 
man:  "As  long  as  I  am  in  the  world  /  a7n  the  light  of 
the  world.''  Having  thus  said, "  He  spat  upon  the  ground 
and  made  clay  of  the  saliva,  and  applied  the  mixture  to 
the  eyes  of  the  blind  man,  and  directed  him  to  go  to  the 
pool  of  Siloam,  and  wash  ;  and  he  went  his  way  and 
washed  and  came  seeing."  It  were  vain  to  try  to  imagine 
the  sensations  of  one  who  had  been  blind  from  birth, 
upon  finding  himself  suddenly  gifted  with  sight.  The 
ideas  of  the  external  world  possessed  by  such  a  person 


504  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

must  bo  dim  and  contracted  beyond  our  conception ;  but 
we  may  well  imagine  liis  rapture  upon  passing  from  ever- 
during  darkness  into  a  world  of  light  and  color,  of  form 
and  visible  motion.  What  a  revelation  would  be  the 
distant  horizon,  the  far-off  mountains,  fruitful  valleys 
stretching  away  till  lost  in  the  blue  haze,  azure  streams 
winding  like  threads  of  silver  among  hills  and  meadows, 
vineyards  and  gardens,  mists  and  exhalations,  summer 
showers  and  dew-drops  of  the  morning,  or  the  sight  of 
the  firmament  with  its  vast  spaces,  its  clouds,  rainbows, 
stars!  Oh  what  a  revelation  were  all  this  to  a  soul  under 
total  eclipse  from  the  moment  of  birth !  Such  was  the 
change  in  the  blind  man's  condition.  Yet  it  was  not  this 
which  the  man  came  seeing;  what  he  most  longed  to 
behold,  after  his  eyes  were  opened,  must  have  been,  not 
so  much  the  beauty  and  "dread  magnificence"  of  nature, 
as  the  face  of  Him  who  had  said  :  "Go  wash  in  the  jiool  of 
Siloam!"  True,  we  are  not  told  whether  he  saw  Jesus 
as  he  returned ;  ])ut  we  are  sure  he  must  have  hastened 
home  to  look  upon  the  faces  of  those  he  loved  most. 

It  has  been  made  a  question,  why  our  Lord,  first 
anointed  his  eyes  with  clay,  and  then  sent  him  to  the 
pool  of  Siloam  to  wash.  Why  did  He  not  rather  heal 
him  with  a  word  ?  Doubtless,  He  could  have  healed 
him  thus;  but  we  can  discern  a  wise  reason  why  another 
method  was  cho.^en.  An  indispensable  condition  of  such 
miraculous  cures  was  a  certain  degree  of  faith  in  the  sub- 
ject. Now  it  is  probable  that  the  faith  of  this  man  was 
very  weak,  and  some  external  aids  were  necessary  to 
raise  it  to  the  requisite  pitch.  Our  Lord,  therefore,  ap- 
plied the  clay  mixed  with  saliva,  both  of  which  were  im- 
agined in  that  age  to  be  medicinal  in  diseases  of  the  eyes. 
The  use  of  these  suggested  to  the  man  first,  the  possihUity 
of  a  cure,  and  then  led  him  to  believe  tliat  he  tvoidd  be 
cured.     The  command  to  wash  [n  the  pool  of  Siloam  was 


HEALING    OF    THE    BLIND    MAN.  oOG 

well  calculated  to  try  and  manifest  his  faith.  The  evan- 
gelist alludes,  not  accidentally,  but  with  a  design,  to  the 
meaning  of  the  name  Siloam  :  "  which  is  by  interpretation 
Sent."  In  this,  he  probably  intimates  that  the  fountain 
was  a  type  of  Christ,  and  was  named  proi^lieiiccdhj.  Our 
Lord  is  expressly  called  the  Apostle, — that  is  to  say,  the 
Messenger,  the  Sent  of  God ;  and  thus  lie  often  speaks 
of  Himself  The  waters  of  Siloam,  gushing  out  from  be- 
neath the  very  substructions  of  the  temj^le, — which  was 
the  type  of  Christ's  humanity, — were  a  striking  symbol 
of  that  life-giving  grace  which  flows  forth  from  the  incar- 
nate Word,  to  make  glad  the  city  of  God,  and  to  refresh, 
quicken  and  sanctify  the  world. 

When  the  man  returned  from  Siloam,  in  the  possession 
of  sight,  his  neighbors  were  of  course  astonished,  and 
could  hardly  believe  it  was  he.  Sight  naturally  changed 
the  expression  of  his  countenance ;  and  they  could  not 
help  saying  one  to  another,  "  Is  not  this  he  that  sat  and 
begged  ?  Some  said  it  is  he  ;  others  said  he  is  like  him ; 
but  he  said  /  am  he.  Therefore  said  they  unto  him.  How 
were  thine  eyes  opened  ?  A  man  that  is  called  Jesus 
made  clay  and  anointed  mine  eyes,  and  said  unto  me.  Go 
to  the  pool  of  Siloam  and  wash ;  and  I  went  and  washed 
and  I  received  sight.  Then  said  they  unto  him.  Where 
is  He  ?  He  said,  I  know  not."  Here  was  a  palpable  mira- 
cle of  the  most  extraordinary  kind.  It  could  not  be  over- 
looked, much  less  denied,  so  they  brought  the  man  to  the 
Pharisees,  by  whom  we  are  to  understand  the  leaders  of 
the  sect,  who  were  now  probably  sitting  in  the  Sanhedrim. 
They  immediately  began  to  question  him  concerning  his 
cure ;  and  he  gave  the  same  account  of  it  which  he  had 
before  given  to  his  neighbors.  They  viewed  the  miracle 
at  once  in  the  light  of  their  own  narrow  prejudice  and 
bigotry :  '^  This  man,"  they  reasoned,  "•  is  not  of  God,  be- 
cause he  keepeth  not  the  Sabbath  day."     Some,  however, 


506  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

who  were  present  were  honest  enough  to  say,  "How  can 
a  man  who  is  a  sinner  do  such  things?"  Thus  tiiere  was 
a  division  among  them.  They  wdsh  to  know  what  the 
man  himself  thinks  of  Jesus.  They  sa}'  unto  the  bhnd 
man  agahi,  "  Wliat  say  est  thou  of  Him  tliat  He  hath 
opened  thine  eyes?"  This  must  not  be  understood  as 
two  questions, — thus.  What  say  est  thou  of  Him  ?  that  He 
hath  Oldened  thine  eyes  ?  The  meaning  rather  is,  What 
sayest  thou  of  Him  in  that  He  hath  ojjened  thine  eyes  f 
What  is  your  opinion  of  Him  ?  What  do  you  conclude 
in  respect  to  His  character  from  the  cure  you  say  He  has 
wrought  upon  3'ou  ?  The  man  answers  simply  and  well, 
*'  He  is  a  prophet."  He  will  soon  find  out  that  He  is  much 
more  than  a  prophet. 

The  Pharisees,  however,  suspecting  some  collusion  in 
the  case,  put  the  man  aside  for  the  present  and  calling  his 
parents,  asked :  "  Is  this  your  son  who,  ye  say,  was  born 
blind  ?  How  then  doth  he  now  see  ? "  They  answered, 
we  think  discreetly,  though  they  have  been  blamed  for 
undue  timidity  and  caution :  "  We  know  that  this  is  our 
son,  and  that  he  was  born  blind ;  ut  by  what  means  he 
now  seeth,  we  know  not,  or  who  hath  opened  his  eyes  we 
know  not ;  he  is  of  age,  ask  him  ;  he  shall  speak  for  him- 
self" They  spoke  in  the  character  of  witnesses,  and 
what  they  ought  to  have  said  more,  it  is  not  easy  to  see. 
It  is  true  they  spoke  thus  guardedly  because  they  feared 
the  Jews;  but  their  caution  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
criminal. 

Failing  to  discover  any  evidence  of  imposture  in  the 
case,  the  Pharisees  return  to  the  man  himself  "  Give 
God  the  praise  ;  we  know  that  this  man  is  a  sinner."  It 
is  believed  that  this  was  a  mere  artifice  of  the  examiners 
to  surprise  the  man  into  a  confession  of  the  imposture 
which  they  suspected  he  was  practising.  He  had  been 
absent  during  the  examination  of  his  parents.     When  he 


HEALING    OF    THE    BLIND    MAN.  507 

returned  to  the  stand,  they  addressed  him  as  though  they 
had  discovered  the  cheat,  and  exhorted  him.  to  give  glory 
to  God,  as  Joshua  exhorted  Achan,*  by  confessing  the 
truth.  If  this  was  their  purpose  they  signally  failed,  for 
the  man  boldly  answered,  "Whether  he  be  a  sinner  or 
no,  I  know  not," — in  respect  to  that  I  am  not  a  competent 
witness, — "  one  thing  I  know,  that  whereas  I  was  blind, 
now  I  see."  This  man  evidently  has  a  strong,  genial  soul, 
and  we  can  not  help  liking  him.  Well,  they  can  not 
shake  his  testimony ;  neither  can  they  let  him  alone ; 
they  continue  to  mterrogate  him :  "  What  did  He  to  thee  ? 
How  opened  He  thine  eyes?"  "I  have  told  you  already, 
and  ye  did  not  hear ;  wherefore  would  ye  hear  it  again  ? 
Will  ye  also  be  His  disciples?"  He  begins  to  understand 
his  position ;  he  sees  that  he  is  among  malicious  enemies 
of  his  great  Benefactor,  and  his  heart  is  moved  with  in- 
dignation. "0/ie  would  think  from  your  questioning  thai 
you  were  ahout  to  heco7ne  Ills  disc'qjlesr 

These  words  stung  them  to  the  quick,  and  they  an- 
swered with  scorn,  "  Thou  art  His  discijDle ;  but  we  are 
Moses'  disciples.  We  know  that  God  spake  unto  Moses ; 
but  as  for  this  fellow  we  know  not  from  whence  he  is." 
"  Why,"  rejoined  the  man,  suddenly  transformed  into  a 
theologian,  "  Why,  herein  is  a  marvellous  thing,  that  ye 
know  not  from  whence  He  is,  and  yet  He  hath  opened 
mine  eyes.  Now  we  know  that  God  heareth  not  sin- 
ners : " — that  is  to  say,  God  hears  not  wicked  men  and 
deceivers,  men  who  are  in  a  state  of  sin, — "  but  if  any 
be  a  worshiper  of  God  and  doeth  His  will,  him  He  heareth. 
Since  the  world  began  was  it  not  heard  that  any  man 
opened  the  eyes  of  one  w^ho  was  born  blind.  If  this  man 
were  not  of  God  he  could  do  nothing."  Bravely  and 
wisely  spoken !      The    most   learned   rabbi  of  them  all 

*  Joshua  vii.  10. 


■SOS  THE    LIFE    OF    CnPJST. 

could  not  have  spoken  as  well.  If  such  miracles  do  not 
demonstrate  a  mission  from  God,  what  evidence  would  be 
sufficient  ? 

But  the  Pharisees  were  only  enraged;  they  could  not 
answer  his  arguments,  but  they  could  excommunicate 
him,  which  they  proceeded  forthwith  to  do.  "Thou  wast 
altogether  born  in  sins,  and  dost  thou  teach  us?"  Aye, 
there  was  the  rub, — that  this  poor  beggar,  who  had  been 
blind  from  his  birth,  and  was,  therefore,  as  they  reasoned, 
monstrously  wicked,  should  presume  to  think  for  himself 
and  even  to  teach  them — "who  rested  in  the  law  and  made 
their  boast  of  God,  and  knew  His  will  and  approved  the 
things  which  were  more  excellent,  being  instructed  out  of 
the  law,  who  accounted  themselves  guides  of  the  blind, 
light  to  them  who  were  in  darkness,  instructors  of  the 
foolish,  and  teachers  of  babes."  This  presumption  in  one 
who  had  come  into  the  world  with  mysterious  crimes 
clinging  to  him,  was  not  to  be  tolerated,  and  so  they  cast 
him  out,  i.  e.,  they  violently  ejected  him  from  their  hall 
of  judgment,  Avhich  was  a  symbol  of  his  excision  from 
the  cono;reo:ation. 

He  went  out  loaded  with  anathemas,  delivered  over 
unto  Satan,  and  marked  as  an  object  of  the  abhorrence 
and  execration  of  men.  It  does  not  appear,  however, 
that  he  was  greatl}^  alarmed  or  distressed  by  this  outrage; 
nevertheless  he  needed  encouragement  and  counsel ;  and 
therefore  Jesus,  the  Good  Shepherd,  ever  mindful  of  the 
lambs,  sought  him  out  and  "  when  He  had  found  him  He 
said  unto  Him,  Dost  thou  believe  on  the  Son  of  God?" 
and  he  answered  and  said,  "Who  is  He,  Lord,  that  I 
might  believe  on  Him  ? "  He  had  the  conviction  that 
Jesus  was  a  prophet  come  from  God,  but  He  did  not  yet 
know  His  divine  dignity.  "Jesus  said  unto  him:  Thou 
hast  both  seen  Him,  and  it  is  He  who  talketh  with  thee. 
And  he  said :  Lord,  I  believe,  and  ho  worshiped  Him." 


HEALING    OF    THE    BLIND    MAN.  509 

The  eyes  of  this  blind  man  are  opened  in  more  senses 
than  one.  He  has  seen  the  Lord  not  only  with  eyes  of 
flesh  but  by  faith.  I  have  no  doubt  he  has  been  tellin^r 
his  story  in  heaven  for  eighteen  hundred  years.  Oh,  that 
you  and  I  may  come  near  enough  to  the  throne  to  hear 
him,  and  to  join  with  him  in  singing,  "  Worthy  is  the  lamb 
that  was  slain,  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom, 
and  strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing." 

We  observe  that  in  healing  the  blind  man  on  the  Sab- 
bath, our  Lord  again  trampled  on  the  superstitious  preju- 
dices of  the  Pharisees,  or  rather  publicly  rebuked  and 
defied  them.  It  is  extraordinary  that  many  of  his  most 
wonderful  cures,  both  in  Jerusalem  and  in  Galilee,  were 
performed  on  the  Sabbath  day.  And  this  had  come  in 
fact  to  be  the  great  controversy  between  Him  and  His 
opposers ;  He  would  work  miracles  of  healing  on  the 
Sabbath,  despite  the  rage  and  clamor  of  the  Pharisees. 
Now  why  was  this  ?  We  know  how  carefully  He  avoided 
giving  needless  offense  even  to  the  most  ignorant  and 
prejudiced.  The  fact  was,  the  nature  of  true  religion 
as  consisting  in  mercy,  judgment  and  faith,  had  almost 
faded  away  from  the  Jewish  mind.  The  people  had  come 
to  worship  forms  and  positive  institutions ;  their  worship 
was  without  love,  their  religion  w^as  without  humanity  and 
heneficence.  They  kept  the  Sabbath,  not  by  doing  good 
to  men,  and  worshiping  God  in  spirit,  but  by  scrupu- 
lously abstaining  from  all  labor.  They  regarded  the  Sab- 
bath with  some  such  feelings  of  superstitious  horror  as  a 
native  of  a  South  Sea  island  regards  a  tabooed  tree  or 
field.  This  feeling  was  diametrically  opposed  to  the  spirit 
of  true  religion.  Our  Lord  came  into  the  world  to  preach 
a  gospel  of  love,  to  teach  men  by  precept  and  example, 
that  the  highest  acts  of  religion  are  acts  of  mercy ;  that 
the  spirit  is  nobler  and  more  essential  than  the  letter. 

From  these  striking  scenes,  our  Lord,  according  to  the 


510  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

most  satisfactory  authorities,  appears  to  have  quietly 
withdrawn  and  to  have  returned  to  Galilee.  His  sub- 
sequent final  departure  from  Galilee,  of  which  explicit 
mention  is  made,  can  not  well  be  understood  on  any 
other  hypothesis.  The  evangelists  are,  however,  silent, 
both  as  to  the  incidents  of  the  journey  and  His  labors 
while  there. 


PART    VIII. 


The  Period  of  our  Lords 
Ministry  in  Perea. 


CHAPTER    I. 

FINAL  DEPARTURE  OF  JESUS  FROM  GALILEE. 

JESUS  RETURNS  TO  GALILEE — SENDS  MESSENGERS  TO  SAMARIA — RERUKE8 
THE  "SONS  OF  THUNDER" — SENDS  OUT  THE  SEVENTY — FOLLOWS  THEM — 
JESUS    TEMPTED    BY   A    LAWYER — PARABLE    OF    THE    GOOD    SAMARITAN. 

Luke  ix.  51-52 ;  x.  1-37. 

Jesus  was  again  in  Galilee,  but  only  for  a  little  season. 
While  many  had  become  His  disciples,  He  was  by  the 
majority,  including  the  Pharisees  and  ecclesiastical  rulers, 
rejected  and  persecuted.  Knowing  that  His  work  among 
His  ungrateful  countrymen  was  almost  finished,  and  that 
"  the  time  was  come  when  He  should  be  received  up,"  He 
prepared  to  bid  a  final  farewell  to  the  scenes  and  places 
which  had  been  so  long  hallowed  by  His  presence.  "  He 
steadfastly  set  His  face  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem."  This 
journey,  however,  was  to  differ,  in  one  important  circum- 
stance, from  all  that  preceded  it.  Some  of  those  had 
been  made  secretly ;  and  in  none  of  them  had  He  pub- 
licly appeared  as  the  King  of  Israel.  The  time  had  now 
come  for  Him  to  declare  Himself  in  the  most  public  man- 
ner as  the  Messiah.  He  therefore  sent  messengers  in  ad- 
vance, to  make  ready  for  Him,  in  the  cities  and  villages 
through  which  He  intended  to  pass.  Who  these  messen- 
gers were,  and  in  what  sense  they  were  to  prepare  for 
His  coming,  is  not  recorded ;  but  they  were  probably  in- 
structed to  announce  Him  as  the  King  so  long  promised 

and   expected.     We   certainly  can  not  accept  the   sug- 
33 


514  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

gestion  that  their  sole  business  was  to  prepare  lodgings 
for  Him.  This  would  have  savored  more  of  the  soft  and 
ease-loving  temper  of  an  earthly  prince,  than  of  the  self- 
denial  of  the  Son  of  man  who  had  not  where  to  lay  His 
head.  We  rather  incline  to  the  opinion  that  these  mes- 
sengers were  sent  forth  as  the  accredited  heralds  of  the 
King,  and  that  their  mission  was  to  call  upon  the  people 
to  receive  Him  gladly  and  do  Him  homage. 

The  messensrers  found  the  inhabitants  of  a  certain  Sa- 
maritan  village  inhospitable,  if  not  positively  hostile ; 
they  refused  to  receive  the  Lord,  "  because  His  face  was 
as  though  He  would  go  to  Jerusalem."  Had  it  been  His 
declared  intention  to  worship  at  Mount  Gerizim,  they 
would  doubtless  have  received  Him  with  open  arms. 

When  James  and  John,  the  "  sons  of  thunder,"  exult- 
ing as  they  probably  were  in  the  belief  that  their  Master 
was  about  to  ascend  the  throne  of  David,  saw  the  indig- 
nity which  was  offered  Him  by  these  Samaritan  villagers, 
their  anger  was  stirred,  and  they  said  to  Jesus,  "  Lord,  wilt 
Thou  that  we  command  fire  to  come  down  from  heaven 
and  consume  them,  even  as  Elijah  did?"  They  alluded 
to  the  destruction  by  fire  of  the  two  companies  sent  by 
the  dying  Ahaziah  to  arrest  the  prophet  Elijah.*  They 
were  carried  away  by  a  generous  zeal,  which  however 
was  not  according  to  knowledge.  Jesus  therefore  turned 
and  rebuked  them,  saying,  "  Ye  know  not  what  spirit  ye 
are  of.  For  the  Son  of  man  is  not  come  to  destroy  men's 
lives,  but  to  save  them."  As  if  He  had  said,  "  Can  you 
still  be  ignorant  that  the  Spirit  of  my  kingdom — that 
Spirit  to  which  you  belong — is  not  one  of  wrath  and  ven- 
geance, but  rather  of  gentleness,  long-suffering  and  forgive- 
ness ?  Elijah  was  a  minister  of  fearful  judgments  to  an 
idolatrous  people ;  I  am  come,  not  to  destroy,  but  to  save." 

*II.  KiiiKs  i.  10,  12. 


FINAL    DEPAETURE    FROM    GALILEE.  515 

Having  spoken  these  words,  doubtless  in  the  hearing 
of  the  Samaritans,  Jesus  meekly  left  them  and  sought 
repose  in  another  village.  This  last  may  have  been  in 
Galilee.  We  conjecture  that  the  two  villages  were  near 
each  other,  on  opposite  sides  of  the  line  between  the 
provinces.  This  rejection  by  the  Samaritans  was  final ; 
the  Lord  did  not  again  visit  them.  It  is  very  interesting, 
however,  to  know  that  the  same  John  who  desired  to  call 
down  fire  from  heaven  on  the  Samaritans,  afterwards 
went  down  to  Samaria  to  confer  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  on  the  Samaritan  believers."* 

It  may  have  been  one  who  had  witnessed  this  very 
scene,  that  said  to  our  Lord,  as  He  was  pursuing  His  way : 
"Lord,  I  will  follow  thee  whithersoever  Thou  goest."  The 
reply  of  Jesus  carries  an  allusion  to  His  homeless  and  house- 
less state,  just  refused,  as  He  had  been,  shelter  for  a  night: 
"  Foxes  have  holes  and  birds  of  the  air  have  nests ;  but 
the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  His  head."  That 
is  to  say,  "  If  you  will  follow  Me,  you  must  renounce  all 
hope  of  earthly  ease  and  comfort ;  for  I  Myself  am  a 
houseless  pilgrim  and  wanderer."  To  another  He  said, 
"  Follow  Me."  The  summons  was  sudden  and  peculiarly 
trying,  for  the  person  addressed  had  at  home  a  father 
either  at  the  point  of  death  or  already  dead,  to  whom  He 
felt  bound  by  filial  duty  and  affection :  "  Lord,  suffer  me 
first  to  go  and  bury  my  father."  "  Let  the  dead,"  Jesus 
rejoined,  "  bury  their  dead ;  but  go  thou  and  preach  the 
kingdom  of  God."  Those  who  are  dead  in  worldliness 
and  sin  are  competent  to  bury  their  dead  ;  that  is  their 
appropriate  work ;  but  you  have  to  do,  not  with  death, 
but  with  life ;  you  are  called  to  preach  the  glad  tidings 
of  salvation ;  enter  at  once  on  your  mission."  Another 
also  said  to  Jesus,  "  Lord,  I  will  follow  Thee ;  but  let  me 

*  Acts  viii.  14-17. 


516  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

first  go  and  bid  them  farewell  which  are  at  home  at  my 
house."  Even  natural  affection  must  be  sacrificed,  at  this 
crisis,  by  the  personal  followers  of  the  Lord.  He  is  about 
to  suffer  and  to  be  received  up ;  and  the  work  of  preach- 
ino-  the  kino'dom  of  God  must,  durin^?  the  next  few  weeks, 
be  prosecuted  with  energy  by  a  multitude  of  evangelists. 
Therefore  He  said  to  the  hesitating  disciple,  "No  man, 
having  put  his  hand  to  the  plough,  and  looking  back,  is 
fit  for  the  kingdom  of  God."  He  who  has  his  hand  on 
the  plough  must  look  forward,  that  his  furrow  may  be  in 
a  rig-ht  line  :  if  he  look  behind,  his  w^ork  will  be  marred. 
The  minister  of  the  gospel,  especially,  whose  business  is 
to  plough, — not  seldom  to  break  up  fallow  ground  full  of 
roots  and  stones, — must  beware  of  a  divided  mind  and 
of  backward  looks. 

It  is  probable  that  our  Lord,  thus  repelled  from  the 
borders  of  Samaria,  determined  to  pass  over  the  Jordan 
into  Perea,  where  the  people  were  less  prejudiced  and 
hostile  than  the  inhabitants  of  Galilee  and  Judea.  It  is 
evident  that  He  meditated,  not  a  rapid  journey,  but  a 
somewhat  extended  missionary  tour ;  for  it  was  at  this 
time  that  He  appointed  "seventy  others  also,  and  sent 
them  two  and  two,  before  His  face,  into  every  city  and 
place  whither  He  Himself  would  come."  This  mission 
of  the  seventy  has  been  misunderstood  and  unduly  mag- 
nified. It  has  been  generall}^  regarded,  even  by  the  most 
learned  and  judicious  commentators,  as  in  some  degree 
apostolic  in  its  design,  as  if  the  phrase  "other  seventy" 
carried  an  allusion  to  the  twelve  who  were  set  apart  to  the 
highest  ministry  in  the  church.  Such  an  interpretation 
is  neither  necessary  nor  eligible.  The  reader  will  re- 
member that  when  Jesus  steadfastly  set  His  face  to  go 
up  to  Jerusalem,  He  sent  forward  messengers  to  make 
ready  for  Him.  The  numl)er  of  these  messengers  is  not 
recorded,  but  it  was  probably  small.     When  lie  turned 


FINAL    DEPARTURE    FROM    GALILEE.  517 

away  from  Samaria  to  go  into  Perea,  His  plan  required 
that  the  number  of  His  heralds  should  be  increased ;  and 
He  therefore  appointed  seventy  others,  to  announce  His 
coming  in  every  place  which  He  intended  to  visit.  Their 
mission  was  special  and  temporary,  continuing  perhaps 
not  more  than  two  or  three  days.  They  would  probably 
be  able  to  visit  thirty-five  or  forty  villages  in  a  single 
day ;  and  as  they  were  only  to  visit  such  as  Jesus  Him- 
self was  soon  to  enter,  their  work  was  no  doubt  speed- 
ily accomplished.  Their  mission  was  indeed  important, 
though  brief,  and  therefore  called  for  special  instructions. 
They  were  to  proclaim  Jesus  as  the  Messiah ;  and  in  so 
doing  they  were,  in  the  main,  to  imitate  the  apostles,  and 
like  them  they  were  empowered  to  work  miracles  in 
proof  of  their  authority ;  but  their  commission  contains 
no  hint  that  their  ministry  was  to  be  of  long  duration, 
and  it  was  expressly  limited  to  the  few  places  which 
Jesus  purposed  to  visit  on  His  journey  to  Jerusalem. 
Some  indeed  have  seen  a  mjsstical  significance  in  the 
number  seventy  y  but  they  overlook  the  fact  that  the 
whole  number  of  messengers  is  quite  unknown  ;  for  the 
seventy  were  an  addition  to  the  force  already  in  the  field. 
If  they  were  associated  with  the  apostles,  there  were  in 
all,  eighty-two,  which  is  not  claimed  as  a  sacred  number. 
But  as  their  coadjutors  were  probably  the  messengers 
previously  sent  forth,  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  in  the 
number  any  occult  allusion  to  the  seventy  elders  of 
Israel,  to  the  seventy  members  of  the  Sanhedrim,  or  to 
any  other  seventy  Jews  or  Gentiles.  As  many  were 
sent  forth  as  were  needed  for  the  work  in  hand, — neither 
more  nor  less. 

It  is  probable,  as  they  went  out  two  and  two,  that  they 
frequently  returned  to  report  progress.  And  they  all  told 
the  same  story,  declaring  with  joy  not  unmixed  with  vain- 
glory, that  even  the  demons  were  subject  to  them  through 


518  THE    LIFE    OF    CUPJST. 

the  name  of  Christ.  Our  Lord's  reply  is  memorable : 
"I  beheld  Satan  fall  as  lightning  from  heaven.  Behold, 
I  give  unto  you  power  to  tread  on  serpents  and  scorpions, 
and  over  all  the  power  of  the  enemy ;  and  nothing  shall 
by  any  means  hurt  3-ou.  Notwithstanding,  in  this  rejoice 
not  because  the  spirits  are  subject  unto  you ;  but  rather 
rejoice  because  your  names  are  written  in  heaven." 

In  this  moment  of  victorj',  our  Lord  had  a  foretaste  of 
the  joy  set  before  Him.  He  "  rejoiced  in  spirit,  and  said, 
I  thank  Thee,  0  Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  that 
thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent, 
and  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes  ;  even  so.  Father ;  for 
so  it  seemed  good  in  Thy  sight.  All  things  are  delivered 
to  Me  of  my  Father ;  and  no  man  knoweth  who  the  Son 
is  but  the  Father :  and  who  the  Father  is  but  the  Son, 
and  he  to  whom  the  Son  will  reveal  Him."  This  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  divine  sovereignty  in  the  selection  of 
babes — of  little  children  and  those  who  are  like  little 
children, — in  preference  to  the  wise  and  prudent  of  this 
v\'orld,  who  by  reason  of  pride  and  self-sufficiency  are  in- 
capable of  discerning  spiritual  things,  is  not  to  be  inter- 
preted as  implying  an  arbitrary  decree  of  reprobation 
in  respect  to  the  latter;  but  rather  as  setting  forth  the 
general  principle  of  the  divine  administration,  that  the 
simple-hearted,  the  teachable,  the  trustful, — in  a  word, 
the  child-like,  and  they  alone,  are  the  chosen  subjects  of 
that  supernatural  illumination  by  which  the  divine  in  the 
gospel  is  discerned.  The  communication  of  all  things 
from  the  Father  to  the  Son,  and  the  mutual  consciousness 
in  which  they  are  fully  known  to  each  other,  are  a  com- 
plete proof  that  the  Father  and  the  Son  are  of  the  same 
substance,  power  and  divinity.  The  work  of  the  third 
Person  of  the  adorable  Trinity  is  intimated  in  clauses 
which  set  forth  the  revelation  of  the  Father  by  the  Son 
to  susceptible  souls.     Having  given  utterance  to  His  sub- 


FINAL    DErAIlTUIiE    FROM    GALILEE.  ,519 

lime  joy,  Jesus  turned  to  Ilis  disciples  and  said  privately : 
"  Blessed  are  the  eyes  which  see  the  things  which  ye  see; 
for  I  tell  you  that  many  prophets  and  kings  have  desired 
to  see  the  things  which  ye  see  and  have  not  seen  them  ; 
and  to  hear  the  things  which  ye  hear  and  have  not  heard 
them." 

Where  the  following  incident  occurred  is  unknown ; 
probably  in  Perea.  A  certain  lawyer,  or  scribe,  who  pro- 
fessed a  special  knowledge  of  the  law,  stood  up,  not  it 
would  seem  in  a  hostile  but  rather  in  a  self-righteous  and 
self-sufficient  spirit,  and  questioned  Jesus,  to  test  His 
knowledge  and  skill.  "Master,"  he  asked,  "what  shall  I 
do  to  inherit  eternal  life  ?"  Jesus  answered  in  the  usual 
rabbinical  form :  "  What  is  written  in  the  law  ?  How 
readest  thou?"  The  lawyer,  reading  perhaps  from  his 
phylactery,  replied,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind ;  and  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself"  Jesus  simply  said,  "  Thou  hast  answered  right ; 
this  do,  and  thou  shalt  live."  The  lawyer,  having  pro- 
posed a  profound  and  important  question,  with  a  view  to 
elicit  discussion,  was  confounded  and  mortified  at  thus 
being  forced  to  answer  his  own  question,  in  a  manner  so 
direct  and  simple.  Anxious  to  show  that  his  question 
was  really  a  difficult  one,  and  willing  to  justify  himself, 
he  asked  again,  "And  who  is  my  neighbor  ?"  The  scribes 
and  Pharisees  had  put  on  the  w^ord  a  narrow  and  techni- 
cal interpretation  by  which  the  Samaritans  and  Gentiles 
were  excluded.  Our  Lord  improved  the  opportunity  thus 
offered  to  impart  larger  instruction  than  the  lawyer  had 
sought : 

"  A  certain  man  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho, 
and  fell  among  thieves,  who  stripped  him  of  his  raiment, 
and  wounded  him,  and  departed,  leaving  him  half  dead. 
And  by  chance  there  came  down  a  certain  priest  that 


520  THE    LIFE    OF    CHEIST. 

way ;  and  when  he  saw  him,  he  passed  by  on  the  other 
side.  And  hkewise  a  Levite,  when  he  was  at  the  place, 
came  and  looked  on  him,  and  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 
But  a  certain  Samaritan,  as  he  journeyed,  came  where  he 
was ;  and  when  he  saw  him  he  had  compassion  on  him, 
and  went  to  him,  and  bound  up  his  wounds,  pouring  in  oil 
and  wine,  and  set  liiui  on  his  own  beast,  and  brought  him 
to  an  inn,  and  took  care  of  him.  And  on  the  morrow, 
when  he  departed,  he  took  out  two  pence  and  gave  them 
to  the  host,  and  said  unto  him,  Take  care  of  him ;  and 
whatsoever  thou  spendest  more,  when  I  come  again  I 
will  repay  thee.  Which  now^  of  these  three,  thinkest 
thou,  was  neighbor  to  him  that  fell  among  the  thieves  ? 
And  the  lawyer  said,  He  that  showed  mercy  on  him. 
Then  said  Jesus  unto  him,  go,  and  do  thou  likewise." 

The  parable  needs  no  explanation,  and  its  perennial 
lesson  no  enforcement. 


CHAPTER    II. 

PROGRESS   OF   THE   P  ERE  AN  MINISTRY. 

JESUS  TEACHES  HIS  DISCIPLES  TO  PRAY — HEALS  A  DUMB  MAN — THE  PHAR- 
ISEES BLASPHEME — A  WOMAN  BLESSES  HIM — HE  DENOUNCES  THE 
SCRIBES  AND  PHARISEES — HE  DECLINES  THE  OFFICE  OP  CIVIL  ARBI- 
TER— PARABLE  OF  THE  RICH  FOOL — DISCOURSE  ON  TRUST  IN  PROVI- 
DENCE,   READINESS   FOR    THE   LORD'S   COMING,   ETC. 

Luke  xi.  1-54 ;  sii.  1-59. 

We  have  reached  a  period  of  our  Lord's  history  which 
abounds  in  chronological  and  harmonistic  difficulties, 
many  of  which  are  apparently  insoluble.  The  plan  of 
this  work  forbids  any  formal  discussion  of  these  difficul- 
ties ;  but  it  is  important  to  remark  that  they  are  not 
such  as  imply  any  contradiction  between  the  evangelists. 
It  is  quite  clear  that  Luke,  on  whose  guidance  we  now 
mainly  rely,  groups  events  and  discourses  without  much 
reference  to  their  order  in  time,  introducing  many  things 
in  this  central  part  of  his  gospel,  which  undoubtedly  be- 
long to  an  earlier  or  later  j)eriod  of  our  Lord's  life.  Some 
of  the  incidents  related  by  him,  though  they  have  a  close 
resemblance  to  certain  others  narrated  by  the  other  evan- 
gelists, are  doubtless  to  be  regarded  as  separate.  And  so, 
too,  some  of  the  discourses  which  mio-ht  at  first  strike 
the  reader  as  identical  with  similar  ones  recorded  by 
Matthew^  and  Mark,  must  be  pronounced,  on  careful  ex- 
amination, to  be  repetitions  of  the  same  on  quite  different 
occasions.     This  remark  h  perhaps  applicable  to  the  heal- 


522  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

ing  of  the  clamb  man,  and  the  discourse  founded  upon 
it,  recorded,  Luke  xi.  14-26,  and  also  to  the  discourse 
recorded,  verses  29-52  of  the  same  chapter.  For  a  full 
exposition  of  such  passages,  the  reader  is  referred  to 
Alford,  Lange,  Van  Oosterzee,  and  other  learned  commen- 
tators on  the  four  gospels.  The  separate  treatment  of 
them  would  be  incomj^atible  Avith  the  design  of  this  book. 
Some  incidents  and  sayings  peculiar  to  Luke  are,  how- 
ever, of  transcendent  interest  and  beauty,  and  must  by 
no  means  be  omitted. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  Jesus  often  prayed  with  His  dis- 
ciples. Some  of  His  prayers  are  recorded,  and  others 
are  noted  as  havino;  been  uttered.  On  one  occasion,  after 
He  had  concluded,  one  of  His  disciples  said  to  Him, 
'■'■  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray,  as  John  also  taught  his  disci- 
ples." In  reply,  Jesus  recited  the  substance  of  the  form 
which  He  had  long  before  given  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount:*  ''When  ye  pra}^,  say.  Our  Father  which  art  in 
heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy  name.  Thy  kingdom  come. 
Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  in  earth.  Give  .us  day 
by  day  our  daily  bread.  And  forgive  us  our  sins ;  for  we 
also  forgive  every  one  that  is  indebted  to  us.  And  lead 
us  not  into  temptation ;  but  deliver  us  from  evil."  It  is 
probable  that  the  disciple  who  sought  instruction  of  our 
Lord  was  a  new  convert;  otherwise  he  would  have  remem- 
bered the  earlier  version  of  the  same  prayer ;  but  the  re- 
quest is  remarkable,  not  only  as  showing  the  care  and 
fidelity  of  the  Baptist  in  training  his  disciples,  but  as  a 
proof  that,  hitherto,  no  forms  of  prayer  had  been  in  use 
among  the  followers  of  Jesus.  It  would  seem  highly 
probable  to  us  that  the  form  given  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  would  have  at  once  been  adopted  and  used  litur- 
gically   Ijy   tlie  disciples  in  their  daily  devotions.      This 

*  Matthew  vi.  9-13. 


PROGRESS    OF    TUE    PEKEAN    MINISTRY.  523 

certainly  was  not  the  ease,  or  this  disciple  would  already 
have  become  familiar  with  it. 

This  is  not  all ;  the  foct  that  our  Lord,  at  this  time,  gives 
the  prayer  with  important  verbal  variations,  proves  that 
He  did  not  prescribe  it  as  a  set  form,  to  be  hinding  on  His 
church,  either  then  or  in  following  ages.  It  is  a  proof 
that  He  intended  that  the  worship  of  His  people  should 
be  free  and  spontaneous,  unshackled  by  laws  and  regula- 
tions touching  the  outward  form.  This  general  principle 
does  not  forbid  the  use  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  or  any  other 
liturgical  forms,  when  prompted  by  loye.  That  Jesus 
attached  comparatively  little  importance  to  the  form  of 
prayer,  is  evident  from  His  discourse  on  this  occasion. 
"  Which  of  you  shall  have  a  friend,  and  shall  go  unto  him 
at  midnight,  and  say  unto  him.  Friend,  lend  me  three 
loaves  ;  for  a  friend  of  mine  in  his  journey  is  come  to  me, 
and  I  have  nothing  to  set  before  him  ?  And  he  from 
within  shall  answer  and  say.  Trouble  me  not;  the  door 
is  now  shut  and  my  children  are  with  me  in  bed ;  I  can 
not  rise  and  give  thee.  I  say  unto  you.  Though  he  will 
not  rise  and  give  him  because  he  is  his  friend,  yet  because 
of  his  importunity  he  will  rise  and  give  him  as  many  as 
he  needeth."  This  parable  has  the  same  general  design 
with  that  of  the  unjust  judge,*  with  which  it  is  com- 
pared by  Trench,  who  sums  up  both  in  language  singu- 
larly terse  and  felicitous :  "  If  selfish  man  can  be  won  by 
prayer  and  importunity  to  give,  and  unjust  man  to  do 
right,  much  more  certainly  shall  the  bountiful  Lord  bestow 
and  the  righteous  Lord  do  justice."!  But  let  it  not,  for  a 
moment,  be  supposed  that  our  Lord  intends  to  intimate 
that  there  is  any  real  reluctance  in  the  heart  of  God  to 
bestow  blessings  on  His  needy  creatures.  On  the  con- 
trary He  goes  on,  in  this  discourse,  as  in  the  Sermon  on 

*Luke  xviii.  2-8.  t  Parables,  page  291. 


524  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

the  Mount,*  to  assure  His  disciples  of  God's  paternal  readi- 
ness to  supply  their  wants,  in  answer  to  their  prayers, 
with  all  good  things.  The  kind  of  reluctance  to  be  over- 
come by  importunate  prayer,  is  illustrated  in  our  Lord's 
treatment  of  the  Syro-Phenician  woman.f 

The  presence  and  miracles  of  our  Lord  in  Perea  created 
a  popular  excitement  not  less  intense  than  that  which 
marked  the  history  of  His  ministry  in  Galilee.  He  en- 
countered hostility  from  the  ruling  class  scarcely  less 
bitter  than  that  which  had  compelled  Him  to  leave  Ca- 
pernaum. Here,  as  well  as  there,  were  some  who  ac- 
cused Him  of  casting  out  devils  through  Beelzebub,  the 
chief  of  the  devils.  In  reply  to  this  our  Lord  follows 
a  line  of  argument  and  denunciation,  nearly  identical 
with  that  on  the  former  occasion ;  and  He  delivers  at  the 
same  time  a  discourse  to  the  peojole,  which  was,  in  sub- 
stance, a  partial  antici^Dation  of  that  most  terrible  dis- 
course which  He  addressed  to  His  enemies  just  before 
His  final  departure  from  the  temple.  Having  already 
noticed  the  reasonings  by  which  He  refuted  the  charge 
of  the  blaspheming  Pharisees,  we  postpone  our  remarks 
on  the  popular  address  to  a  future  chapter,  t 

It  was  in  some  connection  with  these  discourses  of 
Jesus,  that  a  woman  in  the  assembly  exclaimed,  in  a  loud 
voice,  "  Blessed  is  the  womb  that  bare  Thee,  and  the  paps 
which  Thou  hast  sucked ! "  It  is  difficult  to  decide  with 
what  degree  of  intelligence  this  was  spoken.  It  may  have 
been,  as  Alford  conjectures,  the  language  of  "common- 
place and  unintelligent  wonder  at  the  saymgs  and  doings  of 
Jesus  ;  "  but  it  may  also  have  been  prompted  by  genuine, 
adoring  faith,  apprehending  intuitively  the  mystery  of  the 
incarnation.  The  woman,  for  aught  that  appears,  may 
have  long  been  a  disciple ;  and  our  Lord's  reply,  though 

♦  Matt,  vii.  7-11.    t  See  Part  VIT. , Chap.  III.    t  See  Part  IX., Chap.  VIH. 


PKOGRESS    OF    THE    PEREAN   MINISTRY.  525 

slightly  admonitory,  by  no  means  forbids  the  supposition : 
"Yea,  rather,"  {or  yes,  indeed,  but)  "blessed  arc  they  that 
hear  the  word  of  God  and  keep  it."  Jesus  does  not  deny 
that  His  mother  was  singularly  blessed  in  having  borne 
and  nurtured  Him ;  He  rather  asserts  it ;  but  He  declares 
that  fliith  and  obedience  secure  a  still  higher  blessed- 
ness,— an  answer  which  cuts  away  the  very  roots  of  that 
Mariolatry  which  overshadows  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
Christian  world,  but  one  also  which  sanctions  a  legitimate 
reverence  for  the  entirely  human  but  pure  and  gracious 
mother  of  the  incarnate  Word.  Even  her  chief  blessed- 
ness lay  in  the  fact  that  she  heard  and  kept  the  word  of 
God ;  and  that  is  a  blessedness  of  which  all  true  believers 
are  partakers.  Jesus  had  not  long  before  declared  that 
whosoever  obeyed  the  will  of  God,  was  His  brother  and 
sister  and  mother.*  . 

About  this  time,  while  our  Lord  was  speaking  to  His 
disciples  against  the  fear  of  man  and  distrust  of  Provi- 
dence,! exhorting  them  to  deny  themselves  and  confess 
Him  openly,  while  they  entrusted  their  lives  to  Him  who 
forgets  not  even  the  sparrows,  and  numbers  the  hairs  on 
the  heads  of  His  people,  a  certain  man  wdio,  perhaps,  had 
been  oppressed  and  defrauded  by  his  brother,  regarding 
Jesus  as  a  temporal  Messiah,  or  at  least,  as  a  great  Prophet, 
said  to  Him :  "  Master,  speak  to  my  brother  that  he  di- 
vide the  inheritance  with  me."  Jesus,  almost  in  the  very 
words  of  the  Israelite  to  Moses, $  answered:  "Man,  who 
made  Me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over  you?"  The  words 
are  of  great  importance,  as  setting  forth  the  nature  and 
extent  of  Christ's  office  as  King  and  Judge.  While  He 
insisted  everywhere  and  at  all  times  that  He  was  a  real 
king.  He  claimed,  in  this  woi^ld,  only  the  authority  of  a 
legislator,  adjourning  to  a  future  age,  a  future  world,  the 

*  Matthew  xii.  50.  f  Luke  xii.  JExodu?  iL  14. 


526  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

actual  distribution  of  rewards  and  punishments.  In  this 
respect  His  office  appears  in  strong  contrast  with  that  of 
Moses,  whose  legislation  was,  in  an  important  sense, /or 
iiine,  and  whose  administration  extended  to  all  the  details 
of  secular  affairs.  It  was  not,  therefore,  by  accident  that 
Jesus  quoted,  in » substance,  the  words  of  the  rebellious 
Hebrew  in  Eg^q^t.*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  suggest 
that  this  view  of  Christ's  dominion  is  fatal  to  the  tempo- 
ral powder  and  pretensions  which  have,  for  so  many  ages, 
been  maintained  by  the  self-styled  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth. 

Jesus,  always  watchful  for  opportunities  for  impressing 
practical  lessons  on  the  minds  of  His  hearers,  takes  occa- 
sion from  this  ill-timed  request,  which  may  have  been 
prompted  by  avarice,  to  warn  His  disciples  against  a 
greedy,  idolatrous  love  of  earthly  riches :  "  Take  heed 
and  beware  of  covetousness ;  for  a  man's  life  consisteth 
not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth." 
He  then  added  the  following  parable  :  "  The  ground  of  a 
certain  rich  man  brought  forth  plentifully.  And  he 
thought  within  himself,  saying.  What  shall  I  do,  because 
I  have  no  room  where  to  bestow  my  fruits  ?  And  he 
said.  This  will  I  do :  I  will  pull  down  my  barns  and  build 
greater ;  and  there  will  I  bestow  all  my  fruits  and  my 
goods.  And  I  will  say  to  my  soul,  soul,  thou  hast  much 
goods  laid  up  for  many  years ;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink 
and  be  merry.  But  God  said  unto  him.  Thou  fool,  this 
night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee ;  then  v^diose  shall 
those  things  be  which  thou  hast  provided  ?  So  is  he  that 
layeth  up  treasure  for  himself,  and  is  not  rich  toward  God." 

The  wonderfully  beautiful  discourse  which  Luke  records 
in  connection  with  this  parable,  is  in  part  a  repetition  of 
certain  passages  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.f     These 

*  See  the  striking  remarks  on  Christ's  Kingship,  in  Ecce  Homo, 
t  Compare  Matthew  vi.  25-34,  with  Luke  xii.  22-34. 


PEOGRESS    OF    THE    PEREAN    MINISTRY.  527 

have  been  noticed  in  a  former  chapter  *  Some  of  the 
additional  matter,  however,  may  well  arrest  and  fix  our 
attention.  What  inimitable  tenderness  in  the  words, 
"  Fear  not,  little  flock ;  for  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleas- 
ure to  give  you  the  kingdom,"  This  is  the  language  of 
the  Good  Shepherd,  who  carries  His  sheep  in  His  bosom, 
and  assures  them  of  continued  guidance  and  protection, 
till  they  are  all  safely  folded  in  heaven.  The  kingdom 
of  God,  which  is  now  theirs  in  tribulation  and  patience, 
shall  be  theirs  in  its  triumphant  glory  and  blessedness. 
To  secure  that  kingdom,  no  earthly  sacrifice  ought  to  be 
accounted  great  or  painful.  No ;  let  the  world,  with  its 
pomps  and  pleasures,  be  gladly  forsaken  for  an  inheri- 
tance in  the  skies  !  "  Sell  that  ye  have,  and  give  alms ; 
provide  yourselves  bags  that  wax  not  old,  a  treasure  in 
the  heavens  that  faileth  not,  where  no  thief  approacheth, 
neither  moth  corrupteth."  Jesus  goes  on  to  urge  the  im- 
portance of  vigilant  preparation  and  constant  readiness  for 
the  approaching  kingdom :  ''  Let  your  loins  be  girded 
about  and  your  lights  burning;  and  be  yourselves  like 
unto  men  that  wait  for  their  lord,  when  he  will  return  from 
the  wedding ;  that,  when  he  cometh  and  knocketh,  they 
may  open  unto  him  immediately.  Blessed  are  those  ser- 
vants whom  the  lord  when  he  cometh  shall  find  watch- 
ing ;  verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  he  shall  gird  himself, 
and  make  them  to  sit  down  to  meat,  and  will  come  forth 
to  serve  them.  And  if  he  shall  come  in  the  second  watch, 
or  come  in  the  third  watch,  and  find  them  so,  blessed  are 
those  servants.  And  this  know,  that  if  the  good  man  of 
the  house  had  known  what  hour  the  thief  woukl  come,  he 
would  have  watched,  and  not  have  suffered  his  house  to 
be  broken  through.  Be  ye  therefore  ready  also ;  for  the 
Son  of  man  cometh  at  an  hour  when  ye  think  not." 

*Sco  Part  v.,  Chapter  X. 


528  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

Continuing  in  the  same  strain,  our  Lord  solemnly  warns 
His  disciples  against  taking  any  encouragement  from  what 
might  appear  the  delay  of  His  coming,  to  abate  their  zeal, 
relax  their  fidelity,  or  tyrannize  over  their  fellow-servants 
— a  warning  which  ought  especially  to  be  heeded  in  the 
present  season  of  delay,  when  scoffers  are  saying,  with 
more  than  the  exulting  malice  of  their  ancient  prototypes, 
'•  Where  is  the  promise  of  His  coming  ?  for  since  the 
fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from 
the  beginning  of  the  creation." *  "I  am  come,"  says  the 
Lord, "  to  send  fire  on  the  earth ;  and  what  will  I  ?  would 
that  it  were  already  kindled  ?  "  f  The  fire  which  Jesus 
came  to  send  into  the  earth — that  is  to  say,  into  the  hu- 
man world — is  the  fire  spoken  of  by  John  the  Baptist : 
"He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with 
fire."  He  came  down  from  heaven  to  kindle  in  human 
hearts  and  in  human  society,  by  the  special  energy  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  a  blessed  and  purifying  conflagration  of 
holy  love ;  and  He  longed,  with  divine  ardor,  to  see  that 
conflagration  spreading  through  the  w^orld.  But  ere  this 
great  end  of  His  mission  could  be  realized.  He  must 
needs  suffer:  "I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with;  and 
hov\^  am  I  straitened  till  it  be  accomplished!"  Amazing 
words,  expressive  of  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  all  divine! 
Looking  forward  to  the  time,  when  He  would  be  swal- 
lowed up  and  overwhehrxcd  by  the  billows  of  His  death 
and  passion.  He  expresses  a  holy  eagerness  and  impa- 
tience for  the  consummation  of  His  sacrifice !  Lamb  of 
Go:l,  have  mercy  on  us,  who  so  often  shrink  from  petty 
trials  in  the  prosecution  of  our  work. 

Jesus  forewarns  His  disciples,  that  the  first  effect  of 
the  heavenly  fire  which  He  would  send  into  the  earth, 

*  II.  Peter  iii.  4. 

t  It  pccms  to  be  settled  that  this  is  the  correct  rendering  of  Luke  xii.  49. 
See  Alfoid  in  loco. 


PROGEESS    OF    THE    TEREAN   MINISTRY.  529 

would  be  to  stir  up  tlie  niitiiml  cninitj  of  the  human 
heart  to  the  divine  and  holy,  and  thus  to  occasion  con- 
tention among  men  :  "  Suppose  ye  that  I  am  come  to  give 
peace  on  earth?  I  tell  you,  Nay;  but  rather  division; 
for  from  henceforth  there  shall  be  five  in  one  house  di- 
vided, three  against  two,  and  two  against  three.  The 
father  shall  be  divided  against  the  son,  and  the  son  against 
the  father;  the  mother  against  the  daughter,  and  the 
daughter  against  the  mother ;  the  mother-in-law  against 
her  daughter-in-law,  and  the  daughter-in-law  against  her 
mother-in-law."  It  is  not,  of  course,  implied  in  these 
startling  words  that  our  Lord  came  into  the  world  to 
create  division  ;  His  mission,  as  proclaimed  by  the  herald- 
angels,  was  one  of  peace  on  earth ;  and  the  tendency  of 
His  religion  is  to  promote  mutual  good-will  and  harmony 
among  men ;  but  during  the  period  of  its  conflict  with 
the  selfishness  and  enmity  of  human  nature,  there  must 
necessarily  be  division  and  strife.  The  time  will  come, 
however,  when  the  spirit  of  Christ  will  have  gained  the 
mastery  over  the  insurgent  and  malevolent  passions  of 
the  human  heart,  and  then  ^'^ peace  will  lie  like  a  shaft  of 
light  across  the  land  and  like  a  lane  of  beams  athwart  the 
sea."  "  The  wolf  also  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the 
leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid ;  and  the  calf  and  the 
young  lion  and  the  fatling  together;  and  a  little  child 
shall  lead  them.  And  the  cow  and  the  bear  shall  feed ; 
their  young  ones  shall  lie  down  together;  and  the  lion 
shall  eat  straw  like  the  ox.  And  the  sucking  child  shall 
play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and  the  weaned  child  shall 
put  his  hand  on  the  cockatrice's  den.  They  shall  not  hurt 
nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy  mountain ;  for  the  earth  shall 
be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover 
the  sea."* 


*  Isaiah  xi.  6-9. 
34 


CHAPTER    III. 

FURTHER  PROGRESS   OF   THE  PEREAN  MINISTRY. 

JESUS  PROSECUTES  HIS  MINISTRY  IN  PEREA  —  INFORMED  OF  PILATE'S 
SLAUGHTER  OF  THE  GALILEANS — HIS  APPLICATION  OF  THE  FACT — 
PARABLE  OF  THE  BARREN  FIG-TREE — HEALS  THE  INFIRM  WOMAN — 
T-HE  RULER  OF  THE  SYNAGOGUE  CONDEMNS  THE  ACT — IS  REBUKED 
BY  JESUS — REPLIES  TO  THE  QUERY  AS  TO  THE  NUMBER  OF  THE 
SAVED — IS    WARNED    OF    HEROD'S    HOSTILITY — HIS    REPLY. 

Matthew  xis.  1,  2.    Mark  x.  1.    Luke  sm.  10-35. 

The  particular  stage  in  His  progress  through  Perea 
which  our  Lord  had  now  reached,  and  the  immediate 
neighborhood  in  which  He  was  now  preaching,  we  have 
no  means  of  determining.  The  materials  afforded  by  the 
sacred  narrative  for  forming  a  satisfactory  judgment  on 
these, — as  indeed  on  all  other  facts  of  the  kind  connected 
with  the  Perean  ministry, — are  exceedingly  scanty.  We 
gather,  however,  from  the  narrative,  that  our  Lord  was 
actively  employed  in  prosecuting  His  missionary  labors 
among  the  Pereans.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact,  also,  that  in 
these  labors.  He  aj)pears  to  be  less  occupied  with  work- 
ing mirncles  than  formerly.  His  time  seems  to  have 
been  chiefly  taken  up  in  teaching,  and  in  solving  the  dif- 
ficulties of  those  who  came  to  Him  with  questions. 

On  one  occasion  there  came  certain  persons  to  Him 
with  the  news  that  in  a  recent  outln^eak  at  one  of  the 
feasts,  Pilate  had  slaughtered  a  number  of  Galileans  in 
the  outer  court  of  the  temjDle.     It  was  added  as  a  fact  of 


FURTHER   PROGRESS    OF    THE    PEREAX    MINISTRY.     531 

great  significance,  that  their  blood  had  even  been  mingled 
with  the  sacrifices.  Aside  from  the  narrative  here  given 
by  Luke,  we  know  nothing  of  the  fact  related.  It  is  not 
elsewhere  mentioned  in  history.  We  have,  however,  no 
reason  to  doubt  its  authenticity.  The  statement  is  made 
in  the  manner  of  one  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
fact,  and  who  regarded  it  as  generally  known  at  tlie 
time.  It  is  a  matter  of  history  also,  that  such  inci- 
dents were  of  frequent  occurrence  among  the  Jews  of 
this  period.  The  occasion  which  led  to  the  recital  would 
seem  to  be  this  : — The  Jewish  mind  could  not  get  rid  of 
the  idea  that  the  Messiah  was  to  be  a  temporal  prince 
who  should  deliver  them  from  Roman  domination.  This 
sacrilegious  slaughter  of  the  Galileans  in  the  temple, 
by  Pilate,  was  calculated  to  shock  both  Jewish  prejudice 
and  patriotism.  The  question,  then,  would  naturally 
arise,  "Will  not  Jesus,  if  He  be  really  the  Christ,  be 
roused  by  such  an  act  of  cruelty  and  profanation,  to  assert 
His  supremacy  and  revenge  these  wrongs  ?  Let  us  at 
least  tell  Him  the  facts,  and  see  what  He  says  about  it." 
With  characteristic  tact,  our  Lord  avoids  any  com- 
mittal of  Himself  on  civil  questions,  and  turns  the  inci- 
dent to  moral  account.  As  far  back  as  the  days  of  Job, 
the  oriental  mind  had  carried  its  ideas  of  guilt  and  retri- 
bution so  far  as  to  hold  that  the  measure  of  temporal 
misfortune  must  be  the  measure  of  concealed  sin.  Seiz- 
ing upon  this  fact,  our  Lord  not  only  changes  the  current 
of  their  thoughts,  but  brings  them  to  a  most  unexpected 
issue.  "  That  was  a  grievous  calamity,  and  you  regard 
such  events  as  retributive.  But  is  it  to  be  supposed 
'  that  these  Galileans  were  sinners  above  all  the  Galileans, 
because  they  suffered -these  things?'  Or  take  the  case 
of  the  ^  eighteen  upon  whom  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell  and 
slew  them,'  and  which  would  seem  to  be  more  directly 
attributable  to  Divine  Providence ;  is  it  to  be  taken  for 


532  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

granted  that  '  they  were  sinners  alcove  all  men  that  dwelt 
in  Jerusalem,'  because  this  disaster  overtook  them?  'I 
tell  you.  Nay ;  but  except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise 
perish.'  Retribution  is  not  exactlj^  meted  out  to  man  in 
this  life.  Hence,  you  can  not,  from  a  man's  fortunes  or 
misfortunes,  determine  his  relative  merit  or  demerit.  No 
such  doom  as  that  of  the  Galileans  has  overtaken  you ; 
but  it  neither  follows  that  you  have  less  need  of  repent- 
ance, nor  that  you  are  less  liable  to  calamity." 

Our  Lord  proceeds  .to  set  before  His  hearers  more  dis- 
tinctly the  two  important  truths :  that  men  are  often 
quite  as  blameworthy  for  leaving  undone  what  is  enjoined, 
as  for  doing  what  is  forbidden ;  and  that  the  continuance 
of  sparing  mercy  is  not  at  all  due  to  their  worthiness,  but 
wholly  to  the  long-suffering  patience  of  God.  These,  w^e 
take  it,  are  the  principal  lessons  taught  in  the  parable  of 
the  barren  fig-tree ;  which,  however,  had  also  a  special 
reference  to  God's  dealings  with  the  Jewish  nations  at 
this  time:  "A  certain  man  had  ^  fig-tree  j)lanted  in  his 
vineyard ;  and  he  came  and  sought  fruit  thereon,  and 
found  none.  Then  said  he  to  the  dresser  of  the  vine- 
yard. Behold,  these  three  years  I  come  seeking  fruit  on 
this  fig-tree,  and  find  none  ;  cut  it  down  ;  why  cumbereth 
it  the  o-round  ?  And  he  answerins;  said  unto  him,  Lord, 
let  it  alone  this  year  also,  till  I  shall  dig  about  it,  and 
•dung  it ;  and  if  it  bear  fruit,  well ;  and  if  not,  then  after 
that  thou  shalt  cut  it  down." 

Not  long  after  the  preceding  incidents,  possibly  on  the 
succeeding  Sabbath,  Jesus  w^rought  a  miracle  which  re- 
newed the  old  dispute  as  to  His  divine  authority  over 
times  and  seasons.  As  He  was  teaching  in  the  syna- 
gogue, He  observed  among  the  people  present  "  a  woman 
wliicli  had  a  spirit  of  infirmity  eighteen  years,  and  was 
bowed  together,  and  could  in  no  Avise  lift  up  herself." 
Immediately  calling  her  to  Him  He  said  to  her,  "  "Woman, 


FURTHER   PROGRESS    OF    THE    PEREAN    MINISTRY.    533 

tliou  art  loosed  from  thine  infirmity,"  and  laying  His  hands 
upon  her,  healed  her,  80  that  "  she  was  made  straight  and 
glorified  God."  A  hlessed  change  for  the  sufferer !  All 
this  long,  weary  bondage  to  deformity  and  helplessness, 
to  commiseration  and  ridicule,  was  over.  How  must  every 
observer  have  rejoiced  in  his  heart,  as  he  saw  her  lift  her 
bent  frame  to  the  upright  form  and  fair  proportions  of 
womanhood ! 

But  no !  In  one  heart  a  malign  spirit  held  sway.  The 
ruler  of  the  synagogue,  with  true  Pharisaic  bigotry,  took 
offense,  because  this  blessed  work  of  relief  and  restoration 
had  been  w^rought  on  the  Sabbath  day.  Jesus  had  not 
neglected  justice,  judgment  and  mercy;  but  He  had  failed 
to  pay  tithes  in  Pharisaical  mint,  anise  and  cumin ;  He  had 
transgressed  the  tradition  of  the  elders.  So  the  ruler  of 
the  synagogue,  indignant  yet  half  conscious  of  his  mean- 
ness, indirectly  reproved  our  Lord  by  his  rebuke  to  the 
woman  who  had  been  healed.  "  There  are  six  days,"  said 
he,  "  in  which  men  ought  to  work ;  in  them  therefore 
come  and  be  healed,  and  not  on  the  Sabbath  day."  All  our 
Lord's  divine  sense  of  justice  and  mercy  was  roused  within 
Him.  His  indignation  flashed  upon  the  culprit  in  scathing 
words:  ^'■Tliou  hypocrite;  doth  not  each  of  3'ou  on  the 
Sabbath  day  loose  his  ox  or  his  ass  from  the  stall,  and  lead 
him  away  to  watering.  And  ought  not  this  woman,  being 
a  daughter  of  Abraham,  whom  Satan  hath  bound,  lo,  these 
eighteen  years,  to  be  loosed  from  this  bond  on  the  Sab- 
bath day?" 

The  full  force  of  this  rebuke  can  only  be  seen  by  noting 
the  striking*  contrasts  embraced  in  the  illustration :  the 
objects  of  concern  are,  on  the  one  hand,  a  dumb  beast ;  on 
the  other,  a  daughter  of  Abraham ;  the  beast  was  simply 
tied  to  his  stall  where  he  was  fed  ;  the  woman  was  bound 
down  by  a  painful  infirmity ;  the  former  had  been  confined 
but  a  few  hours ;  the  bondage  of  the  latter  had  been  of 


534  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIEIST. 

eighteen  years'  duration ;  the  occasion  of  loosing  the  beast 
on  the  Sabbath  was  merely  that  he  might  be  watered ; 
that  of  the  woman,  that  she  might  be  restored  to  a  life 
of  health  and  comfort.*  A  contrast  so  well-chosen  roused 
the  sympathies  of  the  hearers ;  our  Lord's  adversaries 
were  confounded,  and  the  people  rejoiced. 

As  our  Lord  continued  His  journey  toward  Jerusalem, 
preaching  in  the  cities  and  vihages  that  lay  along  His 
route,  in  a  certain  place,  one  of  His  hearers  put  the  ques- 
tion to  Him,  "Lord  are  there  few  that  be  saved?"  The 
question,  as  it  was  put,  had  really  no  practical  impor- 
tance,— so  without  answering  it  directly,  Jesus  proceeded 
to  set  forth,  and  impress  upon  the  mind  of  the  questioner 
certain  collateral  truths  of  the  first  moment.  His  lan- 
jruaere  has  much  this  force :  "  Whether  there  be  few  or 
many  saved,  it  concerns  you  little  to  know.  But  it  does 
concern  you  to  know  that  your  own  salvation  requires 
faithful  and  strenuous  efibrt.  It  does  concern  you  to 
know  that  many  are  fearfully  self-deceived  as  to  their 
hopes  of  salvation ;  and  do  you  beware  that  you  are  not 
among  them.  It  does  concern  you  to  know  that  there 
is  a  limit  to  the  divine  patience ;  that  there  is  a  point 
where  the  sinner's  procrastination  closes  the  door  of  hope 
against  him.  It  does  concern  you  to  know  that  those 
most  favored  with  the  means  of  graccj  are  most  in  dan- 
ger of  coming  short  of  the  kingdom  of  God  through  pre- 
sumption and  delny.  Keep  this  in  mind,  and  see  to  it 
that,  dismissing  all  idle  questions,  you  '  strive  to  enter  in 
at  the  strait  gate  ;  for  many,  I  say  unto  you,  shall  seek  to 
enter  in,  and  shall  not  be  able.'" 

On  the  same  day,  a  curious  incident  occurred :  certain 
of  His  sworn  enemies  the  Pharisees,  with  great  seeming 
friendliness  came  to  Him  and  said:   "Get  thee  out  and 

*  See  Alford,  in  loco. 


rUKTHER    PROGRESS    OF    THE    PEIiEAN    MINISTRY.     535 

depart  hence;  for  Herod  ^\l\\  kill  tliee."  AVhat  their 
object  was,  is  not  quite  clear.  Some  suppose  that  Herod, 
uneasy  at  the  popidar  excitement  which  attended  our 
Lord's  progress,  sent  these  Pharisees  with  this  report  to 
Jesus  in  order  to  hasten  Ilis  departure  from  that  region. 
A  better  exphmation  makes  the  whole  a  device  of  the 
Pharisees  themselves,  who  sought  in  this  way  to  hurry 
Him  forward  to  Jerusalem,  where  their  plans  for  His  de- 
struction were  now  maturinfj;.  Our  Lord's  messafi;e  seem- 
ingly  addressed  to  Herod,  is  not  necessarily  at  variance 
with  this  view.  He  sees  clearly  that  the  Pharisees  are  at 
the  bottom  of  the  whole  scheme,  yet  prudently  guards 
against  betraying  His  conviction  of  the  fact.  Hence, 
humoring  their  representation  of  the  matter,  he  says : 
"  Go  tell  that  fox,  that  the  violent  designs  of  my  ene- 
mies are  as  yet  idle.  My  divine  mission  is  not  ended. 
I  must  yet  cast  out  devils  and  do  cures,  and  not  till  after 
this  work  is  done  will  the  time  come  for  Me  to  be  made 
perfect  through  suffering.  Besides  this,  'It  can  not  be 
that  a  prophet  perish  out  of  Jerusalem.'  That  is  the 
place  of  peril ;  I  am  safe  enough  till  I  get  there ;  then 
I  am  prepared  to  meet  violence  and  death." 

Our  Lord's  reference  to  this  probably  proverbial  saying, 
then  naturally  led  Him  in  view  of  the  accumulated  guilt 
and  approaching  doom  of  Jerusalem,  to  break  out  into 
that  passionate  exclamation,  at  once  so  reproachful  and 
so  tender ;  so  sternly  yet  sadly  prophetic:  "  0  Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem,  which  killest  the  prophets  and  stonest  them 
that  are  sent  unto  thee  ;  liow  often  would  I  have  gathered 
thy  children  together,  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  brood  under 
her  wings,  and  ye  would  not.  Behold  your  house  is  left 
unto  you  desolate.  And  verily  I  say  unto  you,  ye  shall 
not  see  me  until  the  time  come  when  ye  shall  say.  Blessed 
is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord." 


CHAPTER    lY. 

THE  FEAST   OF   DEDICATION. 

JESUS    GOES    UP   TO    JKRUSALEM — VISITS    MARTHA    AND     MARY— INCIDENTS 

AND  CONVERSATION — JESUS  AT  THE  FEAST — DISPUTE  WITH  THE  JEWS — • 

THEY    ATTEMPT     VIOLENCE — HE    RETIRES    TO    BETHABARA   AND    THERE 

ABIDES. 

John  x.  22-42.     Lcke  x.  3S-4 

The  Feast  of  Dedication  was  instituted  by  the  Macca- 
bees (B.  C.  164)  in  commemoration  of  the  deliverance  of 
the  nation  from  the  Syrians,  and  of  the  cleansing  and  re- 
consecration  of  the  temple  after  its  long  sacrilegious  de- 
filement. The  festival  was  as  much  one  of  patriotism  as 
of  religion,  and  it  might  be  celebrated  throughout  the 
land  as  well  as  at  Jerusalem.  Our  Lord  Avas  under  no  le- 
gal obligation  to-  go  up  to  the  Holy  City,  and  there  must 
have  been  some  special  reason  for  the  journey.  What 
this  was  we  can  only  infer  from  the  general  situation. 
We  have  seen  that  when  He  left  Galilee,  He  sent  special 
messengers  to  announce  not  only  His  coming  but  His 
character  as  the  Messiah.  This  period  of  His  ministry 
is  marked,  therefore,  by  the  widest  publicity  rather  than 
by  the  reserve  and  concealment  which  were  maintained 
during  His  later  ministry  in  Galilee.  It  is  reasonably 
conjectured,  therefore,  that  one  end  of  His  present  jour- 
ney was  to  show  Himself  more  openly  at  Jerusalem,  as 
the  Messiah,  than  He  had  hitherto  done,  and  to  secure  a 
general  proclamation  of  His  divine  mission.  Perhaps  also 
He  longed  for  the  society  of  certain  friends  whom  He 
tenderly  loved  and  whose  residence  Avas  near  Jerusalem. 


THE    FEAST    OF    DEDICATION.  537 

Our  history  now  first  introduces  us  to  a  family  at 
Bethany,  associated  with  the  name  of  Jesus  and  with  the 
later  weeks  of  His  hfe  in  a  way  peculiarly  sacred  and 
tender.  This  family  included  two  sisters,  Martha  and 
Mary,  and  a  younger  brother,  Lazarus.  Martha  may,  lor 
aught  that  appears,  have  had  a  husband  living,  or  a 
father ;  but  she  was,  in  any  case,  the  real  head  of  the 
household.  She  was  probably  in  affluent  circumstances, 
and  could  afford  to  indulge  a  hospitable  disposition.  She 
belonged  to  a  class  of  women,  more  numerous  in  modern 
times  and  occidental  lands  than  among  the  Jews  in  the 
time  of  Christ, — women  of  great  energy,  skill,  and  des- 
patch in  the  management  of  household  afiairs.  We  pic- 
ture her  to  ourselves  as  the  most  notable  housewife  in 
Bethany.  Her  doors  w^ere  always  open  to  her  friends, 
who  never  lacked  kind  attention  and  liberal  entertain- 
ment. She  was  evidently  capable  of  strong  attachments 
and  deep  religious  faith ;  but  her  bustling,  thrifty  course 
of  life  did  not  indicate  what  we  should  call  predominant 
spirituality.  She  was  not  sordid  and  avaricious ;  but  her 
devotion  to  secular  duties  may  have  appeared  to  many 
so  intense  as  to  mark  her  character  as  worldly.  Her  turn 
of  mind  was  practical  and  matter-of-fact,  rather  than 
meditative  and  devotional ;  she  was  largely  endowed 
with  what  American  women  of  a  former  generation  called 
faculty  ;  her  religious  views  were  somewhat  clouded,  and 
her  spiritual  nature  a  little  dulled  by  her  incessant  occu- 
pation with  outward  things.  After  all  abatements  and 
qualifications,  however,  we  feel  for  Martha  an  unfeigned 
admiration.  She  loved  the  Saviour,  in  her  way,  as  truly 
as  her  sister,  who  was  of  a  quite  different  character  and 
temperament.  Mary  was,  we  conjecture,  considerably 
younger  than  Martha,  who  may  even  have  filled  the 
place  of  a  mother  to  her.  Mary  felt  little  interest  in 
the  world  around  her;  she  lived  in  the  spiritual;  she  was 


538  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

o-iven  to  religious  contemplation ;  her  whole  soul  was  ab- 
sorbed in  the  divine  and  eternal.  Though  no  word  of 
hers  has  come  down  to  us,  though  she  appears  in  the 
history  as  even  helplessly  silent,  there  is  abundant  evi- 
dence that  no  human  being  was  in  closer  S3'mpathy  with 
Jesus,  or  better  understood  the  mystery  of  His  person, 
the  divine  wisdom  of  His  teachings,  and  the  necessity 
of  His  cross  and  passion,  than  this  mute,  deep-hearted 
woman.  Of  Lazarus  little  is  recorded  except  that  Jesus 
loved  him,  and  wrought  His  most  resplendent  miracle  to 
call  him  back  from  the  grave.  He  probably  resembled 
in  character  his  sister  Mary. 

How  and  when  Jesus  had  become  acquainted  with  this 
lovely  family,  we  know  not.  We  infer  from  their  inti- 
mate relations  that  the  connection  had  been  of  long- 
standing.  It  is  possible  that  they  had  formerly  resided 
in  Galilee,  though  the  evangelists  give  no  hint  of  such  a 
fact.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  house  of  Martha 
was,  more  than  any  other,  our  Lord's  earthly  home,  when- 
ever He  went  up  to  Jerusalem.  We  are  not  surprised, 
therefore,  that,  when  He  went  up  from  Perea  to  attend 
the  Feast  of  Dedication,  He  became  her  guest.  When 
He  entered  their  dwelling  the  difference  in  character  be- 
tween the  sisters  became  at  once  apparent.  Both  w^ere 
doubtless  full  of  joy,  but  of  a  joy  which  expressed  itself 
in  ways  singularly  characteristic  of  each.  Scarcely  had 
Jesus  seated  Himself  in  the  guest-room,  when  Martha, 
"  on  hospitable  thoughts  intent,"  disappeared ;  but  Mary 
took  her  usual  place  at  the  feet  of  her  Master,  to  listen 
to  His  words.  She  forgot  the  world,  her  sister,  household 
duties,  and  herself,  while  that  divine  voice  was  sounding 
in  her  ears.  She  sat,  we  fancy,  as  one  entranced,  hang- 
ing on  the  lips,  drinking  in  the  words  of  Him  who  spake 
a)>  never  man  spake.  With  the  clear  glance  of  spiritual 
intuition  she  penetrated  metaphor  and  parable,  maxim 


THE    FEAST    OF    DEDICATIOiN'.  539 

and  precept,  and  apprehended  the  living  substance  of 
divine  truth  in  them  all.  She  was  unconscious  of  time. 
The  minutes,  perhaps  the  hours,  passed  away  unnoted. 

Meanwhile  Martha  is  engaged, — doubtless,  in  another 
apartment, — in  preparing  the  meal  for  her  beloved  and 
honored  Guest.  This  is  her  way  of  demonstrating  her 
affection  and  reverence.  In  the  largeness  of  her  hos- 
pitality, she  has  undertaken  too  much  for  her  unaided 
strength.  She  is  burdened  with  manifold  cares.  Possi- 
bly her  servants  are  stupid  and  maladroit.  She  is  anx- 
ious and  "cumbered  about  much  serving."  At  length  her 
trial  becomes  intolerable.  She  thinks  of  Mary  sitting  in 
blissful  peace  at  Jesus'  feet,  and  a  feeling  of  indignation, 
almost  of  envy,  rises  in  her  heart.  Always  prompt  and 
decided  in  her  ways,  and  now  out  of  temper,  she  hastily 
comes  to  Jesus,  not,  we  conjecture,  without  a  flushed  face 
and  flashing  eyes,  and  says  to  Him,  almost  in  a  tone  of 
reproach,  "  Lord,  dost  Thou  not  care  that  my  sister  hath 
left  me  to  serve  alone?  bid  her  therefore  that  she  help 
me."  As  if  she  had  said :  "  It  is  in  vain  for  me  to  ask 
her  assistance ;  she  cares  not  for  my  toil  and  fatigue ; 
but  if  Thou  wilt  command  her,  she  will  lend  me  a  helping 
hand." 

Poor  Mary !  thus  harshly  recalled  from  her  heavenly 
abstraction,  what  could  she  say  ?  how  could  she  appease 
the  anger  of  her  sister,  whom  she  had  left  to  serve  alone  ? 
Probably  her  first  feeling  was  one  of  shame,  perhaps  of 
guilt.  May  she  not  have  thought  within  herself:  "How 
selfish  of  me  to  sit  here  enjoying  the  discourse  of  the 
Master,  while  my  noble  sister  is  wearing  out  her  strength 
to  serve  Him!"  Whatever  she  thought,  she  said  not  a 
word,  glancing  perhaps  meanwhile,  in  helpless  distress, 
from  her  sister  to  Jesus.  He  did  for  Mary  what  He  is 
always  ready  to  do  for  His  people,  when  they  are  unjustly 
accused  by  man  or  devil, — He  answered  for  her  :  "  Mar- 


540  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

tha,  Martha,  thou  art  careful  and  troubled  about  many 
things ;  but  one  thing  is  needful,  and  Mary  hath  chosen 
that  good  part  which  shall  not  be  taken  away  from  her." 
Doubtless  the  words  are  not  only  admonitory,  but  in- 
tended to  convey  a  tender  reproof;  the  very  repetition 
of  the  name  implies  so  much.  Martha  is  rebuked  for  her 
inward  impatience,  as  well  as  for  the  external  turmoil 
caused  by  her  wish  to  prepare  "many  things''  for  her 
guests,  when  a  simpler  entertainment  would  have  been 
sufficient.  Having,  however,  thus  mentioned  the  many 
things  which  were  needless,  Jesus  proceeds  to  speak  of 
the  one  spiritual  portion — the  bread  of  heaven — the 
living  word — which  was  absolutely  essential  to  the  soul's 
life.  That  "good  portion" — the  part  intrinsically  good 
which  could  not  be  taken  away — Mary  had  chosen,  and 
she  was  supremely  blessed  in  her  choice.  We  could  wish 
that  the  history  had  gone  on  to  tell  us  how  Martha  bore 
the  reproof  and  Mary  the  commendation.  We  venture 
the  conjecture  that  Martha — noble  woman  that  she  was — 
at  once  owned  her  fault,  grew  calm  and  humble,  and  em- 
braced her  sister  whom  she  had  rashly  blamed ;  and  that 
Mary  rose  from  her  jjlace  at  the  Savioufs  feet  and  -took 
2Kirt  in  serving  the  guests.  This  conjecture  is  founded 
not  on  any  words  of  the  evangelist;  but  on  a  certain 
page  which  we  have  more  than  once  read  in  the  book  of 
human  nature. 

Jesus  is  now  once  more  in  Jerusalem,  walking,  in  the 
bleak  winter  weather,  under  the  shelter  of  Solomon's 
Porch.  In  this  place  of  public  resort,  the  Jews  gather 
around  Him.  Many  of  them,  at  least,  had  seen  and  heard 
Him  some  two  months  before,  at  the  Feast  of  Taberna- 
cles ;  and  they  well  remembered  the  parable  of  the  shep- 
herd and  the  sheep,  with  which  He  concluded  His  dis- 
coin\ses  at  that  time.  It  was  with  no  friendly  purpose  that 
they  now  approached  Ilim:  "How  long,"  said  they,  "dost 


TUE    FEAST    OF    DEDICATION.  041 

Thou  make  us  to  doubt?  If  thou  be  the  Chrit;t,  tell  us 
plamly."  "  Thy  disciples  proclaim  Thee  as  the  Messiah ; 
many  of  Thy  words  and  acts  seem  to  imply  that  Thou 
regardest  Thyself  as  the  Son  of  David  and  the  King  of 
Israel :  yet  Thou  dost  not  say,  in  so  many  words,  that 
Thou  art  He:  and  thus  Ave  are  left  in  a  state  of  painful 
suspense.  Put  an  end  to  our  perplexity  by  declaring 
whether  Thou  art  the  Christ  or  not."  Thus  they  laid  a 
snare  for  Him ;  they  sought  to  draw  from  Him  a  decisive 
statement,  oA  which  to  ground  a  formal  accusation  before 
the  Sanhedrim.  Jesus  in  effect  answers  their  question ; 
but  in  such  a  w^ay  as  to  thwart  their  malice  :  "  I  told  you 
and  ye  believed  not;  the  works  which  I  do  in  My  Father's 
name,  they  bear  witness  of  Me."  He  had  on  various  oc- 
casions declared  His  divine  mission  and  Sonship,  not  only 
by  words  which  none  but  wrong-minded  hearers  could 
have  failed  to  understand,  but  also  by  works  so  evidently 
divine  that  they  fully  demonstrated  His  relation  to  God 
as  His  only  begotten  Son.  They  had  not,  however,  be- 
lieved, and  the  cause  of  their  unbelief  was  now  plainly 
declared.:  "Ye  believe  not  because  3'e  are  not  of  My 
sheep,  as  I  said  unto  you.  My  sheep  hear  My  voice,  and 
I  know  them,  and  they  follow  Me ;  and  I  give  unto  them 
eternal  life ;  and  they  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall 
any  man  pluck  them  out  of  My  hand.  My  Father,  who 
gave  them  Me,  is  greater  than  all ;  and  no  man  is  able 
to  pluck  them  out  of  My  Father's  hand.  I  and  My 
Father  are  one."  Thus  the  unbelief  of  the  Jews  is  traced 
to  their  spiritual  state ;  they  were  not  His  sheep,  and 
therefore  did  not  hear  His  voice.  All  the  true  members 
of  His  flock  had  been  given  Him  by  the.  Father  in  an 
eternal  covenant;  and  their  faith,  love,  obedience  and 
eternal  salvation,  were  secured  by  His  own  love  and 
protection,  and  by  the  Father's  power. 

The  meaning  of  the  words,  "  I  and  My  Father  are  one," 


542  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST.  , 

has  been  the  subject  of  long  and  bitter  controversy  in 
these  later  ages ;  but  those  who  then  heard  them  had  no 
doubt  respecting  it.  They  understood  Jesus  to  assert 
that  He,  standing  there  in  the  form  of  a  man,  was  one  in 
essence  with  the  eternal  God ;  for  no  sooner  had  the 
Avords  fallen  on  their  ears  than  they  took  up  stones  to 
stone  Him.  Now  mark  the  conversation  which  follows : 
"  Many  good  works,"  says  the  Lord,  "  have  I  showed  you 
from  My  Father;  for  which  of  these  works  do  ye  stone 
Me?  The  Jews  answered  Him,  saying,  For' a  good  work 
we  stone  Thee  not,  Ijut  for  blasphemy ;  and  because  that 
Thou,  being  a  man,  makest  Thyself  God."  How  does 
Jesus  reply  to  this  charge  of  blasphemy  ?  By  telling 
them  that  they  had  utterly  misunderstood  His  w^ords  ? 
By  assuring  them  that  He  was  truly  but  a  man,  and  only 
a  son  of  God,  one  son  among  many  ?  Surely,  had  they 
fallen  into  a  mistake  so  gross,  a  mistake  so  easily  cor- 
rected. He  w^as  bound  then  and  there  to  set  them  right. 
Instead  of  this.  He  reasserts  in  other  words  His  divine 
Sonship,  endeavoring  to  lead  them  up  from  a  lower  con- 
ception to  a  higher,  by  a  striking  argument  from  the 
Scriptures :  "  Is  it  not  written  in  your  law,  I  said,  ye  are 
gods  ?  If  He  called  them  gods  to  whom  the  word  of  God 
came,  and  the  Scripture  cannot  be  broken,  say  ye  of  Him 
whom  the  Father  hath  sanctified  and  sent  into  the  world, 
Thou  blasphemest,  because  I  said  I  am  the  Son  of  God  ? 
If  I  do  not  the  works  of  Mj'  Father,  believe  Me  not.  But 
if  I  do,  though  ye  believe  not  Me,  believe  the  works ;  that 
ye  may  know,  and  believe,  that  the  Father  is  in  Me, 
AND  I  IX  Hnr."  Hearing  this,  they  again  attempted  to 
apprehend  Him,  but  He  escaped  from  them,  perhaps  by 
miracle,  and  retired  to  Bethabara,  beyond  Jordan. 


CHAPTER    V. 

JESUS  DINES  WITH  THE  TIIARISEE. 

JESUS  DINES  WITH  THE  CHIEF  PHARISEE — HEALS  THE  DROPSICAL  MAX — 
REBUKES  THE  GUESTS  FOR  SEEKING  THE  CHIEF  SEATS  —  REPROVES 
THE  OSTENTATIOUS  PRIDE  OF  THE  HOST — UTTERS  THE  PARABLE  OF 
THE   GREAT    SUPPER — INSISTS    ON    ENTIRE    DEVOTION   IN   HIS   DISCIPLES. 

Luke  sit.  1-35. 

It  appears  probable  that  our  Lord  spent  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  four  months  mtervening  between  the  Feast 
of  Dedication  and  the  Passover  in  the  neio'hborhood  of 
Bethabara.  During  this  sojourn,  He  was  on  one  occasion 
invited  to  cline  on  the  Sabbath  day  with  one  of  the  chief 
Pharisees,  who  was  probably  so  styled  not  merely  from 
his  high  social  standing,  but  also  because  of  his  official 
position  either  in  the  synagogue  or  the  Sanhedrim.  The 
occurrence  of  this  feast  on  the  Sabbath  may  strike  some 
as  singular.  But  it  was  customary  for  the  Jews  thus  to 
entertain  their  friends  on  the  Sabbath.  Although  they 
did  not  allow  the  cooking  of  food  on  that  day,  their  ta- 
bles were  generally  better  spread  then  than  at  any  other 
time.  The  motive  which  led  the  Pharisee  to  offer  this 
entertainment  to  our  Lord,  may  have  been  a  desire  to 
show  Him  respect  as  a  prophet ;  but  more  probably  it 
was  an  act  of  ostentatious  hospitality.  The  friends  of  the 
Pharisee,  of  whom  many  appear  to  have  Ijcen  invited, 
made  the  feast  an  occasion  for  maliciously  watching  the 
words  and  actions  of  Jesus. 


544  THE    LIFE    OE    CUIUST. 

At  this  repast,  our  Lord  observed  standing  immediately 
before  Him  a  man  afflicted  with  drop.sy.  This  man  would 
appear  to  have  been  seeking  Jesus,  in  faith,  desiring  to 
be  healed,  and  to  have  been  admitted  to  the  guest-cham- 
ber b}'  the  enemies  of  Jesus,  for  the  purpose  of  drawing 
Him  out.  Our  Lord,  however,  understood  their  object, 
and  promptly  anticipated  their  proposed  attack.  Turning 
to  the  lawyers  and  the  Pharisees,  He  said  to  them :  "  Is  it 
lawful  to  heal  on  the  Sabbath  day?"  Perceiving  that  He 
had  divined  their  intentions,  and  fearful  of  being  caught 
in  their  answer,  they  prudently  "  held  their  peace."  Hav- 
ing thus  silenced  them  beforehand,  Jesus  took  the  drop- 
sical man  and  healed  him,  and  sent  him  awaj^  He  then 
proceeded  to  justify  the  act  by  summarily  appealing  to 
their  own  ideas  of  humanity  and  mercy  in  lesser  things ; 
'•  Which  of  3'ou,"  sa^'s  He,  "shall  have  an  ox  or  an  ass," — 
a  mere  brute  animal,  "fallen  into  a  pit,  and  will  not 
straightway  pull  him  out  on  the  Sabbath  day  ? "  The 
argument  was  conclusive;  they  could  not  answer  it;  they 
did  not  attempt  it. 

Having  thus  turned  their  position  and  forestalled  the 
attack  they  had  meditated.  He  carries  the  war  into  their 
own  camp.  Marking  the  petty  ambition  with  which  those 
who  were  bidden  had  struggled  to  secure  the  chief  places. 
He  proceeds  to  set  forth  not  only  the  littleness  but  the 
folly  of  such  ambition.  "  When  you  are  bidden  to  a 
feast,"  says  He,  "  you  at  once  arrogate  to  yourselves  the 
highest  seats.  You  thus  expose  yourselves  to  the  extreme 
mortification  of  being  compelled  to  take  a  lower  place,  in 
order  to  make  room  for  some  more  distinguished  guest 
of  whose  presence  you  w^ere  not  aware.  How  much 
easier  to  take  the  lower  place  fii'st.  If  you  are  really 
worthy  of  a  better  place,  tlie  fact  will  be  noticed,  and 
you  will  ])e  requested  to  go  up  higher;  you  will  thus  be 
doubly  esteemed  and  honored;  'for  whosoever  exalteth 


JESUS   DINES    WITH    THE    PHAEISEE.  545 

lihnself  shall  be  abased,  and  he  that  huiiibleth  himself 
shall  be  exalted.' " 

And  now  comes  the  turn  of  the  host  himself.  His  pride 
and  ostentation  also  deserve  rebuke.  "  When  thou  niakcst 
a  dinner  or  a  supper,"  says  Jesus, — glancing  perhaps  at 
the  guests  whose  appearance  was  indicative  of  affluence, — 
"  call  not  thy  friends,  nor  thy  brethren,  neither  thy  rich 
neighbors,  lest  they  also  bid  thee  again  and  a  recompense 
be  made  thee.  But  when  thou  makest  a  feast,  call  the 
poor,  the  maimed,  the  lame  and  the  blind ;  and  thou  shalt 
be  blessed ;  for  they  can  not  recompense  thee  :  for  thou 
shalt  be  recompensed  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just." 
There  spoke  the  love  of  Jesus,  for  the  miserable  of  our 
race.  And  yet  these  words,  so  full  of  the  truest  dignity 
and  humanity,  met  with  no  adequate  response.  One  of 
those  present,  indeed,  exclaimed  with  seeming  devout- 
ness, — "  Blessed  is  he  that  shall  eat  bread  in  the  kingdom 
of  God ; "  it  was  only  seeming  devoutness ;  for,  as  says  Van 
Oosterzee,  "  We  find  therein  a  somewhat  unlucky  attempt 
by  an  edifying  turn  to  make  an  end  of  a  discourse  which 
contained  nothing  flattering  to  the  host,  and  might  per- 
haps soon  pass  over  to  yet  sharper  rebuke  of  the  guests."  * 

Our  Lord,  by  no  means  diverted  by  this  artifice  from 
His  purpose,  retorts  upon  the  speaker  in  the  following 
parable :  ''A  certain  man  made  a  great  supper,  and  bade 
many ;  and  sent  his  servant  at  supper-time  to  say  to  them 
that  were  bidden,  Come,  for  all  things  are  now  ready. 
And  they  all  with  one  consent  began  to  make  excuse. 
The  first  said  unto  him,  I  have  bought  a  piece  of  ground, 
and  I  must  needs  go  and  see  it ;  I  pray  thee  have  me  ex- 
cused. And  another  said,  I  have  bought  five  yoke  of 
oxen,  and  I  go  to  prove  them ;  I  pray  thee  have  me  ex- 
cused.    And  another  said,  I  have  married  a  wife ;   and 


*See  his  "Commentary  on  Luke,"  uj  loco. 
35 


546  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

therefore  I  can  not  come.  So  that  servant  came  and 
shewed  his  lord  these  thmgs.  Then  the  master  of  the 
house,  being  angrv,  said  to  his  servant,  Go  out  quickly 
into  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  city,  and  bring  in  hither 
the  poor,  and  the  maimed,  and  the  halt,  and  the  blind. 
And  the  servant  said,  Lord,  it  is  done  as  thou  hast  com- 
manded, and  3"et  there  is  room.  And  the  lord  said  unto 
the  servant,  Go  out  into  the  highways  and  hedges,  and 
compel  them  to  come  in,  that  my  house  may  be  filled. 
For  I  say  unto  you  that  none  of  those  men  which  were 
bidden  shall  taste  of  my  supper." 

The  force  of  the  parable,  as  thus  applied  by  our  Lord, 
will  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  it  was  tantamount  to  saying, 
"  What  does  your  praise  of  them  who  sit  at  the  table  in 
the  kingdom  of  God  amount  to,  when  you  are  among 
those  who,  on  the  most  frivolous  pretenses,  refuse  to  ac- 
cept the  invitation  thereto  ?  And  what  will  all  your  seem- 
ing devoutness  and  enthusiasm  in  uttering  their  praises 
advantage  you,  when,  for  your  refusal  to  accept  the  invi- 
tation, 3^ou  yourself  are  doomed  to  be  excluded  from  the 
feast,  while  those  who  are  the  objects  of  your  contempt 
will  be  brought  in  and  made  to  partake  of  its  fulness." 

Passing  from  these  incidents,  the  sacred  narrative  pre* 
sents  Jesus  to  us  as  continuing  His  journey,  attended  by 
an  immense  concourse  of  people.  The  spectacle  resem- 
bles those  remarkable  manifestations  of  the  popular  in- 
terest so  common  during  Ilis  ministry  in  Galilee.  The 
truth  was,  the  common  people  could  not  resist  the  in- 
fluence of  His  wondrous  teachings  and  His  mighty  works. 
We  can  hardly  doubt  that,  but  for  the  persistent  malice 
of  their  leaders,  they  would  have  continued  to  receive 
Him  gladly.  Fearful  is  the  responsibility  of  those  who, 
having  power  to  lead  the  multitude,  use  it  only  to  stir 
up  their  evil  passions,  and  array  them,  in  opposition  to 
their  better  instincts,  against  the  truth. 


JESUS    DINES    WITH    THE    PHARISEE.  54 


Conscious  of  tlie  increasing  perils  of  true  disclplesliip, 
which  must  result  from  the  growing  hostility  of  His  ene- 
mies, our  Lord,  on  one  occasion,  turned  to  the  multitude, 
and  endeavored  to  impress  upon  them  the  importance  of 
calm  and  resolute  self-denial  on  the  part  of  tho:-'e  who 
would  embrace  His  cause.  "Whoever,"  says  He,  "v>ould 
be  My  disciple  must,  like  him  who  would  build  a  tower, 
or  grapple  with  a  powerful  foe,  count  the  cost  beforehand, 
and  gird  himself  to  the  work  with  invincible  courage  and 
Tesolution.  He  must  leave  no  room  for  retreat.  He 
must  be  prepared  to  make  every  sacrifice  for  the  good 
of  the  cause.  He  must  be  ready  to  lay  everything  on  the 
altar  of  his  devotion ;  personal  comfort,  domestic  attach- 
ments, and,  next  dearest  to  those,  his  life.  He  "svho  hath 
not  such  love  for  Me,  and  such  devotion  to  My  cause,  is 
weak  and  worthless.  He  is  like  salt  that  hath  lost  its 
savor.  What  influence  can  he  exert ;  what  success  can 
he  attain ;  with  what  grace  even  can  he  himself  be  sea- 
soned for  his  own  salvation  ? " 


CHAPTER    VI. 
THE  HEART   OF  GOD. 

MAX'S  MISUNDERSTANDING  OF  THE  DIVINE  NATURE — JESUS  CAME  TO  UK- 
VEAL  THE  father's  HEART  TOWARDS  THE  LOST  —  THE  EFFECT  OP 
THIS  REVELATION  ON  DIFFERENT  CLASSES  OF  MEN — ESPECIALLY  ON 
PUBLICANS    AND     SINNERS — PARABLE     OF     THE     LOST     SHEEP — PARABLE 

OF    THE    LOST     PIECE    OF    MONEY — PARABLE     OF     THE    PRODIGAL     SON 

CONCLUDING    REMARKS. 

LCKE    XT. 

NoTiiiXG  was  so  little  known,  till  Christ  came  in  the 
flesh,  as  the  heart  of  God.  He  had  not  left  Himself  with- 
out witness ;  the  heavens  declared  His  glory,  and  the 
firmament  His  handiwork ;  man's  conscience  and  relig- 
ions nature  testified  to  His  justice ;  the  law  and  the 
prophets  revealed  His  holiness  and  goodness ;  but  men 
knew  not  how  He  stood  affected  towards  them  as  sinners. 
They  had  no  conception  of  His  love  towards  the  unworthy 
and  the  lost ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  thought  of  Him 
only  as  an  angry  Judge, — an  infinite  Adversary  who  lay 
in  wait  to  take  them  in  their  evil  deeds,  and  launch  at 
their  guilty  heads  the  bolts  of  His  consuming  wrath.  In 
the  time  of  Christ  those  who  thought  they  knew  Jeho- 
vah best,  knew  Him  least.  The  self-ricjchtcous  Pharisees 
thought  that  God  was  an  infinite  Pharisee,  who  main- 
tained His  dignity  by  treating  with  coldness  all  persons 
of  (loiil)tnd  character.  That  He  was  a  Father  whose 
heart  went  forth  in  tender  longing  after  His  rebellious 
children,  never  entered   their  minds.      They  could  not 


THE    HEART    OF    GOD.  519 

conceive  of  a  rii^-liteoiisness  which  did  not  mainly  lie  in 
a  hanghty  abhorrence  of  all  who  were  guilty  of  disrep- 
utable sins.  The  "sinners"  of  that  time  were  but  too 
ready  to  accept  this  Phiirisaic  view  of  the  Divine  Na- 
ture ;  and  they  therefore  lived  in  a  state  of  sullen  des- 
pair, expecting  no  favor  from  men,  hoping  for  no  mercy 
from  God.  This  indeed  is,  in  all  ages,  the  sad  fruit  of  a 
vicious  life. 

Now  Jesus  came  to  dispel  all  the  mists  with  which 
guilty  and  superstitious  fear  had  veiled  the  face  of  the 
Father  from  the  eyes  of  His  wandering  children.  He 
came  to  reveal  the  Father's  heart.  The  being,  power, 
wisdom,  and  holiness  of  God  had  been  revealed ;  but  not 
His  unutterable  tenderness.  Jesus  was  the  first  to  reveal 
the  heart  of  God ;  He  was  Himself  that  revelation.  In 
Him  the  sterner  attributes  that  had  been  manifest,  were 
hidden  ;  and  the  heart  of  the  Father  that  had  been  hidden, 
was  made  manifest.*  The  effect  of  this  revelation  on 
those  who  heard  His  words  and  witnessed  His  manner  of 
life  was  very  remarkable.  The  Pharisees  could  only  be- 
lieve in  a  God  who  was  like  one  of  them,  and  they  there- 
fore could  not  discern  the  divine  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth ; 
but  publicans  and  sinners  when  they  saw  Him  were  struck 
with  glad  surprise ;  hope  dawned  upon  their  despairing 
minds ;  they  w^ere  drawn  to  the  Lord  by  the  magnetism 
of  His  pitying  love ;  they  felt  that  He  was  a  Teacher,  a 
Master,  a  Saviour /or  them;  they  heard  Him  with  wonder 
and  joy,  and  many  of  them  became  His  followers  to  the 
end.  On  one  occasion,  many  of  this  description  gathered 
around  Him,  less  eager  to  witness  His  miracles  than  to 
hear  His  words.  The  scribes  and  Pharisees,  seeing  this 
concourse  of  disreputable  persons,  were  scandalized;  "this 
man,"  they  said,  "receiveth  sinners  and  eateth  \\\[\\  them." 


*  See  Puiaford's  "  Quiet  Hours,"  "Jesus  revealing  the  heart  of  God." 


550  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

Jesus,  to  rebuke  His  self-righteous  censors,  and  to  encour- 
age His  penitents,  uttered  that  wondrous  series  of  para- 
bles which  may  well  be  entitled,  the  Heart  of  God.  We 
give  them  here  in  full,  one  idea  in  three  different  forms ; — 
the  eagerness  with  which  we  seek  to  regain  a  lost  treasure 
or  a  lost  child,  used  as  a  faint  symbol  of  the  yearning  of 
our  Heavenly  Father  over  souls  rescued  from  perdition  : 

"  What  man  of  you  having  a  hundred  sheep,  if  he  lose 
one  of  them  doth  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the 
wilderness,  and  go  after  that  which  is  lost  until  he  find 
it  ?  And  when  he  hath  found  it,  he  layeth  it  on  his 
shoulders  reioicino;.  And  when  he  cometh  home,  he 
calleth  together  his  friends  and  neighbors,  saying,  Rejoice 
with  me ;  for  I  have  found  my  sheep  which  was  lost.  I 
say  unto  you,  that  lilvevrise  joy  shall  be  in  heaven  over 
one  sinner  that  repenteth,  more  than  over  ninety  and 
nine  just  persons  which  need  no  repentance." 

"  What  woman  having  ten  pieces  of  silver,  if  she  lose 
one  piece,  doth  not  light  a  candle,  and  sweep  the  house, 
and  seek  diligently  till  she  find  it  ?  And  when  she  hath 
found  it,  she  calleth  her  friends  and  her  neighbors  to- 
gether, saying,  Rejoice  with  me ;  for  I  have  found  the 
piece  which  I  had  lost.  Likewise,  I  say  unto  you,  There 
is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth." 

This  intimates  that  God  values  a  lost  soul,  bearing  His 
image  and  superscription,  more  than  the  most  careful 
housewife  prizes  a  lost  coin,  stamped  with  the  likeness  of 
some  earthly  prince.  Tlie  diligent  search  of  the  latter 
for  the  lost  piece  of  silver  is  but  a  feeble  type  of  God's 
earnest  seeking  for  lost  souls. 

"A  certain  man  had  two  sons;  and  the  younger  of 
them  said  unto  his  father,  Father,  give  me  the  portion 
of  goods  that  falleth  to  me.  And  he  divided  unto  them 
his  living.      And  not  many  days  after,  the  younger  son 


THE    HEART    OF    GOD.  551 

gathered  all  together,  and  took  his  journey  into  a  far 
country,  and  there  wasted  his  substance  with  riotous  liv- 
ing. And  when  he  had  spent  all,  there  arose  a  niiglity 
famine  in  that  land ;  and  he  began  to  be  in  want.  And 
he  went  and  joined  himself  to  a  citizen  of  that  country, 
and  he  sent  him  into  the  fields  to  feed  swine.  And  he 
would  fain  have  filled  his  belly  with  the  husks  that  the 
swine  did  eat ;  and  no  man  gave  unto  him.  And  when  he 
came  to  himself,  he  said,  How  many  hired  servants  of  my 
father's  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  I  perish 
with  hunger !  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father,  and  will 
say  unto  him.  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and 
before  thee,  and  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son  ; 
make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants.  And  he  arose  and 
came  to  his  father.  And  when  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off, 
his  father  saw  him,  and  had  compassion,  and  ran,  and  fell 
on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him.  And  the  son  said  unto  him, 
Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven  and  in  thy  sight, 
and  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son ; — but  the 
father  said  to  his  servants.  Bring  forth  the  best  robe,  and 
put  it  on  him ;  and  put  a  ring  on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on 
his  feet;  and  bring  hither  the  fatted  calf,  and  kill  it;  and 
let  us  eat  and  be  merry ;  for  this  my  son  was  dead  and  is 
alive  again ;  he  was  lost,  and  is  found.  And  they  began 
to  be  merry.  Now  his  elder  son  was  in  the  field;  and  as  he 
came  and  drew  near  the  house,  he  heard  music  and  dan- 
cins:.  And  he  called  one  of  the  servants  and  asked  what 
these  things  meant.  And  he  said  unto  him.  Thy  brother 
is  come,  and  thy  father  hatli  killed  the  fatted  calf,  because 
he  hath  received  him  safe  and  sound.  And  he  was  an- 
gry, and  would  not  go  in ;  therefore  came  his  father  out 
and  entreated  him.  And  he,  answering,  said  to  his  father, 
Lo,  these  many  years  do  I  serve  thee,  neither  transgressed 
I  at  any  time  thy  commandment;  and  yet  thou  never 
'gavest  me   a  kid  that  I  might  make   merry   with   my 


552  THE    LIFE    OF    CITPJST. 

friends ;  but  as  soon  as  this  thy  son  is  come,  who  hath 
devoured  thj  living  with  harlots,  thou  hast  killed  for  him 
the  fatted  calf  And  he  said  unto  him,  Son,  thou  art  ever 
with  me,  and  all  that  I  have  is  thine.  It  w^as  meet  that 
we  should  make  merry  and  be  glad  ;  for  this  thy  brother 
was  dead  and  is  alive  again ;  and  was  lost  and  is  found." 

In  this  wonderful  parable,  paternal  love,  outliving  filial 
ingratitude  and  treason  the  most  vile,  and  going  forth  to 
meet  its  lost,  not  with  reproaches,  scarcely  with  forgive- 
ness, but  with  kisses  and  benedictions,  is  presented  as  the 
image  of  the  yearning  tenderness  of  God  towards  His  re- 
bellious children.  He  longs  for  their  return;  He  sees 
them  afar  off,  when  their  hearts  begin  to  turn  towards 
Him ;  He  runs  by  His  Spirit  and  His  church  to  meet 
them ;  He  gives  them  the  kiss  of  peace,  the  immediate 
token  of  reconciliation  ;  He  covers  their  naked  souls  with 
the  best  robe,  even  with  ^^  that  linen  clean  and  white  which 
is  the  righteousness  of  saints;"  He  gives  them  the  ring 
of  gold  with  the  family  seal  upon  it;  that  is  to  say,  "  the 
power  to  become  the  sons  of  God " — the  privilege  and 
witness  of  adoption  ;  He  puts  shoes  upon  their  feet,  that 
they  may  run  with  swiftness  the  race  that  is  set  before 
them  ;  He  commands  the  fatted  calf  to  be  killed  that  their 
fiimished  souls  may  be  fed,  and  summons  all  the  members 
of  the  celestial  household  to  make  merry,  because  the 
dead  is  alive  and  the  lost  is  found. 

The  case  of  the  improvident  son  very  naturally  sug- 
gested otlier  examples  of  folly  and  mismanagement. 
Hence,  our  Lord  follows  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son 
v/ith  that  of  the  unjust  steward.  The  two  cases  are 
much  alike :  the  son  had  foolislily  squandered  his  own 
substance;  the  steward  had,  tln-ough  either  unfaithfulness 
or  actual  dishonesty,  wasted  his  lord's  property.  They 
are,  however,  in  one  point  in  strilsing  contrast:  the 
prodig[d,  when  he  sees  the  ruin  he  has  wrought,  makes 


THE    nEART    OF    GOD.  553 

no  effort  to  conceal  or  mend  tlio  matter  ;  sincere,  frank 
penitent,  courageous,  he  makes  confession  at  once,  juul 
humbly  awaits  the  result.  The  steward,  on  the  contrary 
waits  till  he  is  actually  taxed  with  his  misconduct,  and 
then,  with  cunning  selfishness  proceeds,  not  so  much  to 
mend  one  mischief  by  another,  as  to  crown  misconduct 
by  a  deliberate  fraud.  The  following  is  our  Lord's  state- 
ment of  the  case : 

"  There  was  a  certain  rich  man  which  had  a  steward, 
and  the  same  was  accused  unto  him  that  he  had  wasted 
his  goods.  And  he  called  him,  and  said  unto  him,  How  is 
it  that  I  hear  this  of  thee  ?  give  an  account  of  thy  stew- 
ardship ;  for  thou  mayest  be  no  longer  steward.  Then 
the  steward  said  within  himself.  What  shall  I  do  ?  for  my 
lord  taketh  away  from  me  my  stewardship  :  I  can  not 
dig ;  to  beg  I  am  ashamed.  I  am  resolved  what  to  do, 
that  when  I  am  put  out  of  the  stewardship,  they  may  re- 
ceive me  into  their  houses.  So  he  called  every  one  of  his 
lord's  debtors  unto  him,  and  said  unto  the  first.  How  much 
owest  thou  unto  my  lord  ?  And  he  said,  An  hundred 
measures  of  oil.  And  he  said  unto  him.  Take  thy  bill,  and 
sit  down  quickly  and  write  fifty.  Then  said  he  to  another, 
And  how  much  owest  thou  ?  And  he  said,  An  hundred 
measures  of  wheat.  And  he  said  unto  him.  Take  thy  bill, 
and  write  fourscore.  And  the  lord  commended  the  unjust 
steward,  because  he  had  done  wisely ;  for  the  children  of 
this  world  are  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the  children 
of  light." 

AVe  must  guard  against  involving  Jesus  Himself  in  this 
commendation.  The  wisdom  of  the  unjust  steward  was 
mere  worldly  sagacity  and  shrewdness.  True  to  his  sel- 
fish instincts,  he  had  the  wit  to  wring  from  the  vocation 
he  was  about  to  lose,  the  means  of  providing  for  the  fu- 
ture. His  was  a  clear  eye  and  single  aim,  which  his  lord 
looked  at  in  the  light  of  worldly  policy,  and  commended 


554  THE    LIFE    OF    CHFJST. 

as  such.  Oiir  Lord  called  the  attention  of  His  disciples, 
not  to  the  morals  of  the  unjust  steward  but  to  his  con- 
sistent foresight  and  singleness  of  purpose ;  urging  them 
to  elevate  the  same  wisdom  into  rectitude  that  he  had 
debased  into  fraud,  and  so  to  deal  with  the  treasures  of 
this  world  as  to  wring  from  them  not  only  present  com- 
fort but  permanent  riches,  a  reception  into  "  everlasting 
habitations."  He  showed  the  strict  relation  in  God's  ser- 
vice between  fidelity  m  the  lesser  field  and  in  the  greater, 
and  asked  pointedly :  "  If  ye  have  not  been  faithful  in 
the  unrighteous  mammon,  who  will  commit  to  your  trust 
the  true  riches?" — adding,  as  a  caution  against  half-ser- 
vice :  '•  No  servant  can  serve  two  masters ;  ye  can  not 
serve  God  and  mammon." 

The  general  drift  of  these  parables  was  so  unmistakable, 
that  the  Pharisees  were  unable  to  conceal  their  irritation. 
They,  however,  ventured  upon  nothing  further  than  ridi- 
cule :  "  they  derided  Him."  Our  Lord  replied  to  them 
with  great  plainness,  giving  them  to  understand  that  with 
all  their  seeming  sanctity  they  were  mere  hypocrites,  and 
as  such,  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God.  He,  then, 
with  the  evident  design  of  rebuking  their  covetousness, 
luxury  and  unbelief,  uttered  the  parable  of  the  rich  man 
and  Lazarus; 

"  There  was  a  certain  rich  man,  wdiich  was  clothed  in 
purple  and  fine  linen,  and  fared  sumptuously  every  day ; 
and  there  was  a  certain  beggar  named  Lazarus,  which 
was  laid  at  his  gate,  full  of  sores,  and  desiring  to  be  fed 
with  the  crumbs  which  fell  from  the  rich  man's  table ; 
moreover,  the  dogs  came  and  licked  his  sores.  And  it 
came  to  pass  that  the  beggar  died,  and  was  carried  by  the 
angels  into  Abraham's  bosom.  The  rich  man  also  died,  and 
was  buried  ;  and  in  hell  he  lifted  u])  liis  eyes,  being  in 
torments,  and  seeth  Abndiam  afar  ofi',  and  Lazarus  in  his 
bosom.     And  he  cried  and  said,  Father  Abraham,  have 


THE    HEART    OF    GOD.  055 

mercy  on  me,  and  send  Lazarus,  that  he  may  dip  the  tip 
of  his  finger  in  water  and  cool  my  tongue  ;  for  1  am  tor- 
mented in  this  flame.  But  Abraham  said,  ^Son,  remember 
that  thou  in  thy  life-time  receivedst  thy  good  things,  and 
likewise  Lazarus  evil  things ;  but  now  he  is  comforted, 
and  thou  art  tormented.  And,  besides  all  this,  between 
us  and  you  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed ;  so  that  they  who 
would  pass  from  hence  to  you  can  not ;  neither  can  they 
pass  to  us,  that  would  come  from  thence.  Then  he  said, 
I  pray  thee  therefore,  father,  that  thou  wouldst  send  him 
to  my  fatiier's  house ;  for  I  have  five  brethren ;  that  he 
may  testify  unto  them,  lest  they  also  come  into  this  place 
of  torment.  Abraham  saith  unto  him.  They  have  Moses 
and  the  prophets ;  let  them  hear  them.  And  he  said, 
Nay,  father  Abraham ;  but  if  one  went  unto  them  from 
the  dead,  they  will  repent.  And  he  said  unto  him.  If 
they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will  they 
be  persuaded,  though  one  rose  from  the  dead." 

Since  no  further  mention  is  made  of  the  Pharisees,  the 
presumption  is,  that  as  the  terrible  significance  of  the 
parable  flashed  upon  them, — as  they  saw  depicted  in  it 
not  only  their  invincible  and  malignant  unbelief,  but  their 
coming  doom, — they  were  filled  with  rage,  and  withdrew 
to  plot  revenge  in  secret. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  RAISING   OF  LAZARUS. 

BETHANY — LAZARUS  AND  HIS  ILLNESS — HIS  SISTERS  SEND  TO  JESUS — HE 
ARRIVES  AT  BETHANY  AND  IS  MET  BY  MARTHA — MARTHA's  FAITH — 
SHE  CALLS  MARY — JESUS  WEPT — HE  RAISES  LAZARUS — THE  MIRACLE 
REPORTED  TO  THE  PHARISEES — ALARM  OF  THE  SANHEDRIM — PRO- 
PHETIC UTTERANCE  OF  CAIAPHAS — SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PREDICTION — 
JESUS    RETIRES    TO    EPHRAIM — INSTRUCTS    HIS    DISCIPLES. 

John  xi.  1-54. 

The  scene  of  this  narrative  is  laid  in  Bethany,  about 
two  miles  east  from  Jerusalem,  on  the  road  to  Jericho,  a 
place  yet  in  existence,  and  often  visited  by  travelers. 
They  pass  out  of  the  city,  at  the  Damascus  gate,  on  the 
north-east,  cross  over  the  brook  Kedron,  ascend  the  Mount 
of  Olives  obliquely,  and  winding  round  the  summit  to  the 
south  and  then  again  to  the  east,  they  find  the  village 
lying  in  a  shallow  valley  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the 
mountain.  It  is  now  decayed  and  ruinous,  but  in  the 
time  of  Christ  it  was  doubtless  populous  and  flourishing. 
Here  dwelt  the  hospitable  sisters^  Martha  and  Mary,  with 
their  brother  Lazarus,  probably  the  Benjamin  of  the  fam- 
ily. The  place  of  these  three  in  the  hearts  of  Christen- 
dom is  assured  by  the  brief  statement:  "Jesus  loved 
Martha,  and  her  sister,  and  Lazarus."  * 

While  our  Lord  was  prosecuting  His  ministry  in  Perea 
there  was  deep  trouble  in  this  Ijcloved  family.     Lazarus 

\  *  John  xi.  5. 


THE    RAISING    OF    LAZARUS.  557 

was  taken  siuldcnly  and  dangeroiusly  ill,  probably  with  a 
malignant  fever  such  as  prevail  in  that  climate.  The 
disease  was  alarming,  and  the  sisters  were  overwhelmed 
with  dismay.  Lazarus  must  have  been  singularly  pure, 
affectionate  and  devout,  one  who  was  attached  by  holy 
sympathy  to  the  noblest  natures,  and  who  attracted  them 
in  return.  No  wonder  that  Martha  and  Mary  were  in 
deep  affliction.  Yet  there  was  one  hope.  Jesus,  their 
adored  Lord,  their  honored  and  faithful  Friend,  could  heal 
their  brother  if  He  were  but  present.  Nay,  He  could 
even  heal  him  at  a  distance.  So  they  dispatched  a  mes- 
senger to  Bethabara, — which  was  distant  only  an  easy 
day's  journey, — with  the  simple  message  :  "  Lord,  behold 
he  whom  Thou  lovest  is  sick."  This  they  knew  would  be 
enough.  They  did  not  request  the  Lord  to  come  to  Beth-, 
any;  they  did  not  even  ask  Him  to  heal  their  brother; 
they  merely  apprised  Him  of  their  affliction,  leaving  all 
the  rest  to  His  well-tried  love  and  wisdom. 

Jesus  received  the  message,  and  sent  back  this  answer 
to  the  afflicted  family :  "  This  sickness  is  not  unto  death, 
but  for  the  glory  of  God,  that  the  Son  of  God  may  be. 
glorified  thereby."  These  words,  though  true  in  a  sense 
known  to  Jesus  Himself,  were  calculated  to  try  the  faith 
of  the  sisters ;  for  it  is  probable  that  when  the  messenger 
returned  to  Bethany,  Lazarus  was  already  dead.  "What 
must  they  then  have  thought  of  the  assurance  that  the 
sickness  was  not  unto  death  ?  Yet,  in  the  eyes  of  Him 
who  saw  the  end  from  the  beginning  the  sickness  was  not 
unto  death,  as  they  too,  should  acknowledge,  when  they 
should  find  that  death  was  not  its  last  issue,  but  only  a 
transition  to  a  restored  and  higher  life  ; — a  higher  life,  for 
when  Christ  declares  that  sickness  to  be  "for  the  glory  of 
God,  that  the  Son  of  God  might  be  glorified  tlicreb}^' 
He  certainly  includes  in  this  glory  of  God  the  perfecting 
for  Lazarus  of  his  own  spiritual  being,  as  we  can  not  doubt 


558  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHlilST. 

that  it  icas  perfected  through  these  wondrous  events. 
This  death  was  his  passage  into  Hie,  the  decisive  crisis  of 
his  spiritual  developuient,  and  also  a  signal  moment  in 
the  revelation  of  the  glory  of  Christ  unto  the  world. 
The  Son  of  God  was  first  glorified  in  Lazarus,  and  then 
throuiirh  him  to  mjinkind.* 

O 

For  long,  sad  hours  those  affectionate  sisters  watch  over 
their  dying  brother.  Rapidly  does  his  life  ebb  away,  and 
ere  their  messenger  returns  the  end  has  come.  Tenderly 
they  close  his  eyes,  feeling  that  the  light  of  home  is  for- 
ever quenched.  The  sound  of  wailing  is  heard  in  that 
house,  late  cheerful  and  happy.  The  beloved  remains 
are  washed,  and  wrapped  around  wath  linen  and  spices, 
and  ere  the  setting  of  the  sun,  they  are  borne,  according 
to  the  Jewish  custom,  to  the  family  sepulchre,  followed 
by  the  two  heart-broken  mourners,  wdio  can  hardly  artic- 
ulate the  customary  "Alas!  alas!  my  brother!"  The 
stone  is  laid  upon  the  opening  of  the  vault ;  and  they 
return  to  their  home,  now  a  home  no  longer.  There,  sur- 
rounded by  some  sympathizing  and  some  formal  friends, 
they  sit  and  ponder  their  loss.  The  thought  uppermost 
in  their  minds  finds  utterance  in  words  broken  by  sobs : 
"  Oh  that  Jesus  had  beeri  here  !  then  our  brother  would  not 
have  died!  alas,  why  was  not  the  Master  ivith  us  at  such  a 
time  as  this!" 

Leaving  them  in  their  sacred  grief,  let  us  now  return 
to  Bethabara.  Jesus  was  not  ignorant  that  he  whom  He 
loved  was  dead,  but  for  two  days  after  the  messenger  de- 
parted He  continued  in  the  same  place.  Then  He  said  to 
His  disciples,  "  Let  us  go  into  Judea  again."  They  were 
struck. with  consternation.  They  remembered  too  well 
how  narrowly  He  escaped  falling  a  victim  to  His  enemies 
at  Jerusalem  a  few  weeks  before ;    and  would  He  now 

*See  Trench  on  the  Raising  of  Lazarus. 


THE    RAISING    OF    LAZARUS.  559 

court  death  by  again  luitting  Himself  in  their  power? 
They  ventured  to  expostuhite  with  Ilim :  "Master,  tlic 
Jews  of  hite  sought  to  stone  Thee,  and  goest  Thou  tliitlier 
again?"  Jesus  answered,  somewhat  obscurely  to  w.s, 
though  it  Avas  doubtless  plain  to  them:  "Are  there  not 
twelve  hours  in  the  day  ?  If  any  man  Malk  in  the  day, 
he  stumbleth  not,  because  he  seeth  the  light  of  this  world. 
But  if  a  man  walk  in  the  night  he  stumbleth,  because 
there  is  no  lif»:ht  in  him."  The  meaning;  seems  to  ])e,  "  a 
certain  time  is  appointed  Me  of  My  Father ;  until  that 
time  is  accomplished,  My  enemies  have  no  power  over 
Me.  There  is  no  real  danger,  My  day  is  not  yet  expired, 
and  I  may  therefore  go  to  Judea  Avith  safety,  and  you 
also.  Only  let  us  walk  in  the  light  from  heaven,  and  we 
have  nothing  to  fear.  When  Ave  Avjdk  in  earthly  darkness, 
then  indeed  there  is  imminent  peril." 

Still,  their  apprehensions,  Avhich  Avere  partly  selfish, 
Av^ere  not  quieted;  and  He  therefore  said  to  them  in 
words  ever  beautiful  and  memorable:  "Our  friend  Laza- 
rus sleepeth,  but  I  go  that  I  may  aAA^ake  him  out  of  sleep." 
They  could  only  understand  Him  in  the  literal  sense  ; 
"Lord,"  said  they,  "if  he  sleep  he  shall  do  Avell."  He 
has  then  passed  the  crisis  of  his  disease  and  Avill  speedily 
recover.  But  Jesus  Avas  speaking  of  another  sleep,  of 
the  deep  slumber  of  the  grave.  He  then  told  the  disci- 
ples plainly,  "Lazarus  is  dead,"  and  added,  "for  your 
sakes  I  am  glad  I  Avas  not  there ;  to  the  intent  ye  might 
believe.  Nevertheless  let  us  go  unto  him."  "  Had  I  been 
there,  and  restored  him  before  life-Avas  extinct,  3'our  faith 
Avould  have  gained  less  than  it  Avill  by  Avhat  you  are 
about  to  Avitness."  The  disciples  are  all  silenced  except 
Thomas,  A\'ho,  though  brave  and  faithful  and  ready  to 
follow  his  Master  to  the  death,  can  onlj^  believe  so  far  as 
he  sees.  He  thinks  that  Jesus  is  going  to  His  death. 
He  does  not,  hoAvever,  forsake  Him,  but  snys  to  his  fellow- 


560  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

disciples  in  a  paroxysm  of  love  and  unbelief:  "  Let  us  also 
go,  that  we  may  die  with  Him."  Bravely  spoken,  Thomay, 
from  your  stand-point.  You,  who  accompany  your  Lord 
to  Judea  with  a  sad  determination  to  die  with  Ilim,  shall 
go  lolthout  Him,  by  and  h\, — yet  not  without  Him,  alone, 
yet  not  alone, — to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  proclaiming  Him 
as  your  risen  Saviour,  your  Lord  and  your  God. 

The  journey  is  well-nigh  accomplished.  Bethany  is  at 
hand ;  they  have  even  now  reached  the  outskirts  of  the 
town,  and  there  they  pause  near  the  sepulchre  of  Laza- 
rus. Meanwhile  some  one  carries  the  tidings  to  Martha, 
who,  Avithout  informing  her  sister,  as  it  would  seem,  im- 
mediately Avent  and  met  the  Lord.  "Lord,"  said  she,  "if 
Thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother  had  not  died."  Then, 
a  vague  hope  springing  up  in  her  heart,  a  hope  which  as 
speedily  vanished,  she  added,  "  But  I  know  that  even 
now,  whatsoever  Thou  wilt  ask  of  God,  God  will  give  it 
Thee."  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  "  Thy  brother  shall  rise 
again."  "  I  know  that  he  shall  rise  again,"  replied  Mar- 
tha, "  in  the  resurrection  at  the  last  day."  She  says  this, 
not  with  cheerful  hope,  but  with  sadness.  "Alas,  must  I 
wait  till  the7i  f  Must  I  make  the  journey  of  life  without 
him, — without  hwi  who  has  been  dearer  to  me  than  life 
itself?"  This  is  the  lanc-uao-e  of  natural  affection.  How 
often  does  the  mourner,  when  he  stands  at  the  grave  of 
one  he  loves,  feel  that  the  assurance  of  a  glorious  resur- 
rection at  the  last  day  is  cold  comfort !  It  seems  long  to 
wait.  We  would  have  our  loved  ones  with  us  now  ;  we 
would  break  through  the  separation-wall ;  we  would  con- 
strain their  unbound  spirits  into  bonds  again ;  like  Or- 
pheus in  search  of  his  lost  Eurydice,  we  would  willingly 
descend  into  hades  to  bring  them  back.  This  seems  to 
have  been  the  feeling  with  which  Martha  confessed  her 
faith  in  the  resurrection.  A  moment  ago,  she  did  enter- 
tain a  vague  hope  that  Jesus  would  do  something  won- 


THE    RAISING    OF    LAZARUS.  5G1 

derful  for  her  relief;  but  now  she  thinks  of  her  brother 
as  lying  in  the  "cold  obstruction"  of  the  grave  till  the 
last  day,  and  all  hope  dies  within  her. 

But  the  very  purpose  of  this  affliction  is  to  elevate  her 
fjiith  above  all  natural  affection,  above  all  accidents  and 
circumstances,  above  reason  itself  Our  Lord  proceeds, 
therefore,  to  unfold  to  her  His  glorious  prerogatives  as 
the  Giver  of  life.  She  has  just  expressed  her  confidence 
in  Him  as  an  effectual  intercessor,  who  obtains  of  God 
whatever  He  asks ;  it  is  needful  for  her  to  learn, — and 
her  sorrow  has  made  her  humble  and  susceptible, — that 
Jesus  has  life  in  Himself;  that  there  is  fulness  of  power 
and  divinity  in  His  own  2^crson ;  and  now  having  thus 
prepared  the  way.  He  adds  those  memorable  words,  which 
every  child  in  Christendom  knows  by  heart,  which  every 
pious  mourner  has  learned  to  love  as  the  well-spring  of 
heavenly  comfort :   "  I  am  the  RESURRECTioisr  and  the 

LIFE  ;  HE  THAT  BELIEVETH  IN  Me,  THOUGH  HE  WERE 
DEAD  YET  SHALL  HE  LIVE  ;  AND  WHOSOEVER  LIVETII  AND 
BELIEVETH    IN    Me    SHALL    NEVER    DIE."       ThcSC    SublimC 

words  reveal  to  us  that  death,  the  power  before  whom 
all  earthly  potentates  go  down,  is  yet  in  conflict  with 
One  mightier  than  himself,  with  One  whose  assured 
triumph  over  the  great  destroyer  is  dwelt  upon  more  at 
length  in  another  part  of  this  work. 

We  return  to  Martha,  now  disciplined  by  sorrow  to 
comprehend  the  sublime  teachings  of  the  Lord.  When 
He  had  spoken  these  life-giving  words.  He  asked  her, 
" Believest  thou  this?"  She  said  mito  Him,  "Yea,  Lord; 
I  believe  that  thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  which 
should  come  into  the  world."  In  believing  that  He  was 
the  Christ,  she  believed  in  Him  as  the  resurrection  and 
the  life,  for  even  the  Jews  held  that  the  Messiah  would 
raise  the  dead.  She  did  not,  however,  as  yet  understand 
the  mighty  miracle  which  was  about  to  be  wrought.  She 
30 


562  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

had  now  an  imjjUcit faith,  but  it  was  general;  not  a  spe> 
cific  faith  that  here  and  now  Lazarus  would  be  restored 
to  life. 

At  this  point  probably  Jesus  inquired  for  Mary ;  so 
Martha  returned  home  and  called  her  sister  secretly,  say- 
ing to  her,  The  Master  is  come,  and  calleth  for  thee." 
We  do  not  wonder  that  Mary  arose  quickly  and  came  to 
Christ  with  affectionate  haste.  It  is  natural,  too,  that  the 
friends  who  were  with  her  should  think  that  she  had  gone 
t'  the  grave  to  weep  there,  for  in  the  first  days  of  mourn- 
ino;  anions:  the  Jews,  the  nearest  relatives  often  visited 

Co  ' 

the  grave  of  the  deceased.  The  Jews  therefore  followed 
Mary,  as  she  went  weeping  to  the  place  where  Jesus  was, 
and  ih^y  wept  with  her.  How  like  her  to  fall  down  at 
His  feet, — which  Martha  had  not  done, — as  she  exclaimed, 
"  Lord,  if  thou  hadst  been  here  my  brother  had  not  died." 
These  were  the  very  words  of  Martha,  proving  how  those 
sisters  had  longed  for  the  presence  of  their  adored  Friend 
in  their  time  of  trouble.  There  was  no  conversation 
between  Jesus  and  Mary,  for  He  knew  that  her  faith  was 
already  equal  to  the  emergency.  But  when  Jesus  saw 
her  weeping,  and  the  Jews  also,  He  groaned  in  spirit  and 
was  troubled.  "Where  have  ye  laid  him?"  He  asked. 
They  conducted  Him  to  the  grave,  which  was  a  cave,  or 
vault,  closed  with  a  stone  at  its  mouth. 

"Jesus  wept." 

Some  honest  and  pious  minds  have  found  a  difficulty 
in  the  fact  that  Jesus  wept  and  groaned  in  spirit,  when 
He  knew  how  soon  Lazarus  woukl  be  restored.  Such 
persons  have  not  deeply  pondered  the  fact  that  Jesus, 
though  the  Son  of  God  from  eternity,  was  true  man, 
having  all  human  sensibilities  and  a  full  and  lively  sym- 
pathy with  His  brethren.  He  stood  in  the  presence  of 
death.  One  of  His  dearest  friends  lay  in  that  gloomy 
vault.     He  loved  Lazarus  somewhat  as  He  loved  John. 


THE    RAISING    OF    LAZARUS.  563 

They  were  familiar,  confidential  friends.  After  a  painful 
sickness  he  had  died ;  not  in  appearance,  but  in  reality ; 
he  was  even  now  in  the  dread  world  of  spirits.  That  he 
was  soon  to  be  summoned  back  to  life  did  not  make  his 
death  the  less  real.  The  Jews  who  stood  by  drew  the 
right  inference  from  His  sorrow :  "  Behold  how  He  loved 
him!"  And  then  as  a  Friend  Jesus  felt  the  deep  anguish 
of  Martha  and  Mary  as  His  own.  We  must  even  go  fur- 
ther, and  conceive  of  Him  at  this  moment  as  havinir  in 
view  the  ravages  of  sin  in  this  world  through  all  ages. 
He  was  united  in  nature  and  sympathy  to  a  dying  race. 
He  knew  how  many  were  at  that  moment  passing  through 
the  dark  valley;  He  knew  how  many  generations  had 
already  been  swept  away  by  the  destroyer.  He  came 
into  the  world  to  bear  the  griefs  of  all  mankind,  and  we 
can  not  doubt  that,  while  standing  at  the  grave  of  Laza- 
rus, He  did  bear  them.  Those  were  the  tears  of  a  tender 
and  compassionate  elder  Brother,  and  He  sustained  this 
relation  not  only  to  the  mourning  family  at  Bethany  but 
to  all  mankind.  He  was  then  and  there  weeping  over 
all  the  dead  and  in  sympathy  with  all  the  bereaved.  But 
no  such  reflections  appear  to  have  occurred  to  the  Jews 
who  witnessed  the  sorrow  of  Jesus ;  for,  somewhat  ma- 
liciously, they  said  one  to  another,  "  Could  not  this  man, 
who  opened  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  have  caused  that  even 
this  man,  Lazarus,  should  not  have  died  ? "  If  the  healing 
of  the  man  born  blind  was  a  real  miracle.  He  must  have 
had  power  to  heal  Lazarus ;  He  loved  him  so  much.  He 
would  have  done  it  had  He  been  able.  They  began  to 
question  whether  there  was  not  some  mistake  or  illusion 
in  the  case  of  the  blind  man.  But  their  doubts  were  to 
be  soon  dispelled. 

Jesus  now  directed  them  to  take  away  the  stone  from 
the  door  of  the  sepulchre.  Martha  reminded  Him  of  the 
probable  condition  of  the  body ;  not  that  we  believe  that 


564  THE    LIFE    OF    CIiniST. 

putrefaction  had  really  taken  place ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
is  most  reasonable  to  infer  that  the  body  had  been  miracu- 
lously preserved,  for  otherwise  the  miracle  would  have  had 
something  of  a  monstrous  character.  Martha's  language 
conveyed  a  natural  iin2wession,  not  in  that  case  a  statement 
of  the  fiict.  Nevertheless  her  suggestion  shows  how  little 
she  as  yet  looked  for  the  great  deliverance  which  Christ 
was  about  to  work  out  for  her.  He  more  distinctly  inti- 
mated his  purpose:  "Said  I  not  unto  thee  that  if  thou 
wouldst  believe  thou  shouldst  see  the  salvation  of  God?" 
When  the  stone  was  removed,  Jesus  lifted  up  His  eyes, 
and  said,  ^'  Father,  I  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  heard 
Me.  And  I  knew  that  Thou  hearest  Me  always ;  but  be- 
cause of  the  people  that  stand  by  I  said  it,  that  they  may 
believe  that  Thou  hast  sent  Me."  We  may  imagine  the 
bystanders  looking  into  the  open  tomb  with  awe  and  sol- 
emn expectation.  Nor  did  they  wait  long, for  when  He  had 
thus  spoken,  Jesus  cried  with  a  loud  voice, — with  the  very 
voice  ■which  will  raise  the  dead  at  the  last  day, — "  Laza- 
rus, come  forth."  That  "voice  pierces  the  dull  car  of  the 
dead ;  the  spirit  returns  to  the  mouldering  frame ;  the 
life-blood  courses  through  the  shrivelled  veins ;  the  limbs 
heave  and  stir;  and  the  late  occupant  of  the  sepulchre 
appears  at  its  mouth,  with  his  burial  garments  about  him, 
his  pale  lips  opening  Avith  thanksgivings,  and  his  glazed 
eye  kindling  with  light,  as  he  raises  it  in  adoring  homage 
to  the  face  of  his  Deliverer.  Loving  hands  unwind  his 
grave-clothes.  Loving  arms  fold  him  in  a  warm  embrace. 
Lovingi;  hearts  welcome  him  back  to  earth."* 

There  is  something  mysterious,  and  almost  tantalizing 
in  the  reserve  of  the  inspired  writers  touching  many 
things  which  we  would  give  iiuhIi  to  kuow.  John  was  an 
eye-witness  of  this  stupendous  miracle ;  he  saw  Lazarus 

*Ide'8  "  Bible  Pictures,"  pnge  257.     A  book  of  great  power  and  beauty. 


THE    RAISIXG    OF    LAZARUS.  565 

come  forth  from  the  sepulchre  ;  he  doubtless  accompanied 
him  and  his  sisters  to  their  home  ;  he  must  have  had  many 
conversations  with  him  afterwards ;  he  could  have  sriven 
a  full  account  of  his  subsequent  life ;  but  he  has  not  left 
us  even  one  short  sentence  to  satisfy  our  curiosity;  he 
has  left  us  so  much,  and  only  so  much,  as  was  necessary 
to  show  forth  the  love  and  power  and  glory  of  his  adora- 
ble Master.  Lazarus  himself  seems  to  have  been  silent 
in  respect  to  that  dread  world  of  spirits,  the  secrets  of 
which  he  had  known  by  experience.  Perhaps  he  found 
those  secrets  unutterable  in  mortal  speech ;  perhaps  his 
lips  were  sealed  by  an  express  prohibition.  It  was  not 
the  purpose  of  the  evangelists  to  divert  the  attention  of 
their  readers  from  Jesus,  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life. 
Lazarus,  after  all,  is  nothing :  Christ  is  all  in  all. 

The  raising  of  Lazarus  was  undoubtedly  our  Lord's 
most  illustrious  miracle.  It  created  a  profound  sensation 
not  only  among  the  eye-witnesses,  but  also  in  Jerusalem, 
and  throughout  the  whole  country.  Many  of  those  who 
saw  it,  having  prepared  and  susceptible  minds,  believed ; 
but  others,  though  they  could  not  deny  the  reality  and 
the  greatness  of  the  miracle,  persisted  in  rejecting  Christ. 
Actuated  by  no  friendly  feelings,  they  hastened  to  the 
Pharisees  in  Jerusalem  and  gave  them  an  account  of  what 
they  had  seen.  The  Sanhedrim  was  immediately  con- 
vened to  deliberate  upon  the  matter.  The  healing  of  a 
man  born  blind,  and  the  raising  of  a  dead  man  to  life, 
were  miracles  so  stupendous  and  so  public  that  there  was 
every  reason  to  apprehend  that  Jesus  would  be  speedily 
acknowledged  by  the  whole  nation  as  the  Messiah.  So, 
when  the  council  was  assembled,  they  said  one  to  another : 
"  What  do  we  ?  for  this  Man  doeth  many  miracles.  If  we 
let  Him  thus  alone  all  men  will  believe  on  Ilim,  and  the 
Romans  will  come  and  take  away  both  our  place  and 
nation."     It  has  been  thought  that  this  was  not  spoken 


5GG  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

sincerely,  but  was  intended  to  alarm  the  more  moderate 
members  of  the  council,  some  of  whom  were  suspected  of 
looking  too  favorably  on  the  mission  of  Jesus ;  but  it 
would  seem  more  probable  that  they  were  really  in  great 
alarm. 

From  their  stand-point,  there  was  evident  ground  for 
alarm.  Their  views  of  the  Messiah  were  altogether 
worldly.  They  conceived  of  Him  as  a  temporal  deliv- 
erer and  king,  who  would  emancipate  the  nation  from 
the  Roman  yoke.  And  this  was  the  expectation  and  ear- 
nest wish  of  the  nation.  The  people  now  had  their  eyes 
fixed  upon  Jesus,  and  were  ready,  whenever  He  would 
put  Himself  at  their  head,  to  take  up  arms  against  their 
foreign  oppressors.  They  had  already  sought,  on  one 
occasion,  to  take  Him  by  force  and  make  Him  their  King. 
Now,  while  the  priests  and  Pharisees  were  not  averse  to 
a  revolution  which  should  expel  the  hated  Romans,  and 
were,  perhaps,  at  this  very  moment  looking  forward  to  a 
war  for  Jewish  independence,  any  immediate  attempt, 
especially  under  the  leadership  of  Jesus  the  Nazarene, 
seemed  to  promise  nothing  but  disaster  to  their  own 
order  and  to  the  country.  Had  Jesus  been  one  of  them- 
selves, they  would  have  fanatically  rushed  into  the  con- 
test; but  they  dreaded  His  reign  more  than  the  despot- 
ism of  the  Romans.  The  latter  left  their  institutions 
untouched ;  but  they  well  knew  that  they  could  expect 
no  favor  from  such  a  prince  as  Jesus,  who  had  already 
assailed  the  corruptions,  denounced  the  hypocrisy,  and 
greatly  diminished  the  influence  of  the  scribes  and  Phar- 
isees. Let  Him  be  once  raised  to  the  throne  of  David, 
and  they  knew  their  occupation  would  be  gone.  Besides, 
notwithstanding  they  could  not  deny  His  miracles,  they 
did  not  believe  He  was  the  Messiah;  they  held  Him,  at 
best,  a  half-crazed  enthusiast.  If  He  should  be  proclaimed 
King,  the  legions  would  be  upon  them,  and,  making  no 


THE    RAISING    OF    LAZARUS.  567 

distinction  between  the  innocent  and  guilty,  would  not 
only  destroy  their  holy  city  and  temple,  but  whatever 
remained  of  their  nationality.  It  must  be  confessed  that 
Jewish  politicians  in  that  age  could  not  well  have  rea- 
soned otherwise,  for  hke  professed  politicians  of  all  ages, 
they  w^ere  blind  to  the  real  designs  of  Providence. 

But  while  certain  members  of  the  Sanhedrim  who  were 
moderate  and  conciliatory  in  temper,  proposed  half-meas- 
ures, there  was  one  bold,  bad  man  among  them  who  had 
neither  fear,  nor  conscience  himself,  and  despised  them  in 
others;  this  was  Caiaphas  the  High  Priest,  a  Sadducee, 
subtile  and  cruel.  He  arose  with  a  sneer,  if  we  may 
judge  from  his  contemptuous  language,  and  addressing 
himself  to  his  more  scrupulous  colleagues, — among  whom, 
we  must  not  forget,  were  Nicodemus  and  Joseph  of  Ari- 
mathea, — said, "  Ye  know  nothing  at  all,  nor  consider  that 
it  is  expedient  for  us  that  one  man  should  die  for  the 
people  and  that  the  whole  nation  perish  not."  He  spoke 
as  a  politician : — "  The  nation  is  in  danger.  If  this  Naza- 
rene  goes  on  making  disciples.  Pie  will  soon  be  proclaimed 
King  by  the  unthinking  multitude ;  and  then  our  nation- 
ality will  be  extinguished  in  blood.  This  must  somehow 
be  prevented.  I  laugh  at  the  cowardly  suggestions  of 
my  well-meaning  colleagues.  True,  Jesus  has  not  been 
tried ;  but,  whether  innocent  or  guilty,  it  is  better  that 
one  should  die  for  all,  than  that  the  whole  nation  should 
perish."  Thus,  under  the  pretext  of  the  iniblic  good, — 
always  the  plea  of  unprincij)led  statesmen, — Jesus  was 
doomed  to  death  by  the  highest  functionary  of  the  Jewish 
church. 

So  far  everything  is  plain ;  but  the  evangelist  has  ap- 
pended a  comment  to  these  words  of  Caiaphas  which  has 
perplexed  many  readers : — "  This  spake  he  not  of  himself; 
but  being  High  Priest  that  same  year,  he  prophesied  that 
Jesus  should  die  for  that  nation ;  and  not  for  that  nation 


668  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

only,  but  that  also  he  should  gather  together  in  one  the 
children  of  God  that  were  scattered  abroad."  There  is 
no  doubt  that  the  evangelist  is  to  be  understood  literally  j 
he  means  to  say  that  Caiaphas  really  prophesied,  and  that 
he  prophesied  because  he  was  High  Priest  that  year. 
Now,  that  a  wicked  man  may  be  endowed  with  foresight 
of  future  events,  and  that,  under  a  temporary  divine  af 
flatus,  he  may  predict  them,  seems  clear  enough.  Balaam 
is  an  instance  in  point.  In  the  words  of  Olshausen :  "  If 
we  keep  in  mind  the  consideration  that  John  did  not 
mean  to  represent  every  High  Priest  as  necessarily  proph- 
esying, but  to  show  that  the  High  Priest  was  the  natural 
medium,  through  whom  God  might  at  times  reveal  Him- 
self, this  view  harmonizes  with  the  circle  of  ideas  enter- 
tained by  the  evangelist,  as  well  as  with  Scripture." 

Caiaphas,  then,  is  to  be  regarded  as  unconsciously  pre- 
dicting the  death  of  Christ.  St.  John  adds  by  way  of 
comment :  "  That  he  should  die  not  for  that  nation  only, 
but  that  He  should  gather  together  the  children  of  God 
that  were  scattered  abroad."  "  The  death  of  Christ  was 
to  unite  Jew  and  Gentile  in  one  body,  breaking  down  the 
middle  wall  of  partition  between  them,  and  abolishing 
in  His  flesh  the  enmity,  even  the  law  of  commandments 
contained  in  ordinances,  and  so  of  twain  making  in  Him- 
self one  new  man,  so  making  peace."  In  other  words,  the 
cross  was  to  be  the  great  centre  of  attraction,  which 
should  draw  into  a  holy  and  blessed  harmony  the  rent 
and  dislocated  members  of  the  human  family.  Such, 
then,  was  the  prophetic  counsel  of  Caiaphas,  which  he 
uttered  all  unconscious  of  its  divine  meaning,  and  which 
his  colleagues  understood  only  in  the  more  obvious  sense. 
This  counsel  was  adopted;  and  the  intentions  of  indi- 
vidual enemies  of  Christ  were  thus  formally  sanctioned 
by  the  Sanhedrim.  Henceforth  they  watched  for  a  favor- 
able opportunity  of  executing  their  bloody  purpose.    Jesus 


TUE    RAISING    OF    LAZAKUS.  5G0 

was  not  ignorant  of  tlieir  inaehinations  ;  had  He  not  been 
omniscient,  we  can  not  doubt  that  Nicodenius  or  Joseph 
of  Arimathea  would  have  informed  Him  of  His  danger. 
He  withdrew  from  the  neighborhood  to  a  city  called 
Ephraim,  which  was  in  the  desert  a  few  miles  north-east 
of  Jerusalem,  and  there  He  dwelt  with  His  disciples  in 
deep  seclusion,  till  His  time  was  come.  That  time  was 
at  hand.  Only  a  few  weeks  were  to  elapse  before  He 
should  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  "  the  baptism  of  blood  " 
should  be  accomplished. 

We  may  feel  entirely  certain  that  those  few  weeks 
were  mainly  employed  in  training  and  instructing  His 
disciples,  whose  views  were  even  yet  exceedingly  defect- 
ive and  vacillating.  For  more  than  three  years  the 
Master  had  been  with  them;  but  they  were  yet  mere 
children  in  knowledge,  and  would  indeed  continue  to  be 
so  till  the  Comforter  should  come  and  guide  them  into 
all  truth.  One  office  of  the  Comforter  was  to  hrmg  to 
tlieir  rememhrance  all  that  their  Master  had  said.  Many 
of  His  discourses  which  were  obscure  to  them  at  the  time, 
and  soon  faded  from  their  memory,  were  restored  and  made 
clear  under  the  supernatural  illumination  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Jesus,  therefore,  continued  to  deposit  in  their 
minds  treasures  of  heavenly  wisdom,  the  value  of  which 
they  then  but  dimly  understood. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
THE  LAST  JOUKNEY:    THE  TEN  LEPERS. 

JESU9  DEPAKTS  FROM  EPHRAIM  FOR  JERUSALEM — HEALS  THE  TEX  LEP- 
ERS— THE  PHARISEES  DEMAND  WHEN  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD  SHOULD 
COME — OUR     lord's     DISCOURSE     TO    HIS    DISCIPLES — PARABLE    OF    THE 

UNJUST    JUDGE. 

Luke  svii.  11-37  ;  xvui.  1-8. 

Although  the  Passover  was  no\Y  at  hand,  and  multi- 
tudes of  the  f)eople  were  already  going  up  to  Jerusalem 
to  purify  themselves  in  preparation  for  the  feast,  Jesus 
and  His  disciples  still  remained  in  Ephraim.  This  delay 
was  the  occasion  of  much  speculation  at  Jerusalem ;  the 
chief  priests  and  Pharisees  had  given  orders  that  His  ar- 
rival should  be  j^i'omptly  announced  to  them,  that  they 
might  seize  upon  Him  before  He  had  time  to  enlist  the 
multitude  in  His  favor.  Our  Lord  at  length  set  out  on 
this  His  last  memorable  journey  to  Jerusalem,  directing 
His  course  by  the  border  of  Galilee  and  Samaria  towards 
the  Jordan.  He  would  seem  to  have  chosen  this  route, 
in  order  to  fall  in  with  the  multitude  of  pilgrims,  one 
body  of  whom  would  naturally  come  down  by  the  road 
along  the  western  bank,  and  another  by  the  eastern, 
crossing  at  the  fords  near  Jericho.  His  o])Ject  in  thus 
throwing  Himself  in  the  track  of  these  multitudes,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  to  reach  the  largest  number  with  His 
teaching,  and  as  the  time  for  concealment  was  now  past, 
to  enter  Jerusalem  with  the  greater  publicity. 

Coming  in  His  route  to  a  certain  village,  He  was  met 
by  ten   lepers,  who   it  would   seem,  from   His  progress 


THE  LAST  JOURNEY  :  THE  TEN  LEPERS.      571 

being  widely  known,  had  collected  in  a  body  for  that 
purpose, — a  melancholy  group  of  earth's  most  miserable 
creatures,  despairing  for  years,  yet  now  agitated  by  a 
hope  of  release  from  their  sufferings.  They  appear  to 
have  had  f)iith,  yet  rather, — as  their  address  would  indi- 
cate,— a  faith  in  Jesus  as  a  mere  prophet.  Sensible  of 
their  own  loathsomeness,  and  perhaps  not  wishing  to  com- 
municate to  Him  a  ceremonial  uncleanness,  they  did  not 
venture  to  approach  Ilim,  as  others  of  their  class  who 
better  knew  His  compassionate  nature  had  done,  but 
stood  afar  off  and  lifted  up  their  voices  with  that  most 
pitiful  cry,  "  Jesus,  Master,  have  mercy  on  us ! "  Their 
appeal  met  with  a  prompt  response,  though  not  improb- 
ably a  different  one  from  that  expected.  It  was,  however, 
like  that  of  Elisha  to  Naaman,  calculated  to  test  their 
faith  thoroughly.  "  Go,  show  yourselves  to  the  priests," 
was  the  simple  and  almost  curt  reply.  The  order  was 
promptly  obeyed.  The  sufferers  at  once  went  on  their 
way,  whether  perplexed  with  doubt  or  full  of  joyful  hope, 
we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  However,  they  had 
faith  enough  to  obey,  and  divine  love  met  them  in  the 
way  with  a  sudden  and  perfect  cure. 

And  here  comes  in  a  striking  exemplification  of  the 
difference  between  formal  obedience  and  genuine  love. 
Nine  of  the  number, — Jews,  we  may  infer  from  their 
regard  for  the  ceremonial  law, — go  straight  forward  in 
formal  accordance  with  the  command  of  Jesus,  rejoiced 
no  doubt  at  the  cure  wrought  in  them,  but  with  no  thank- 
ful recognition  of  the  Saviour  as  its  author.  One,  how- 
ever,— to  the  rescue  of  our  human  nature  from  the  shame 
of  utter  ingratitude, — one,  a  poor  Samaritan  outcast,  over- 
come with  joy  and  thankfulness  and  love,  forgets  every- 
thing but  his  benefactor.  Turning  back  he  glorified  God 
with  a  loud  voice,  and  falling  down  at  the  feet  of  Jesus, 
poured  out  the  fulness  of  his  heart  in  thankful  adoration. 


572  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIPJST. 

And  now  lie  was  doubly  blessed.  Faith  and  obedience 
brought  soundness  into  his  diseased  body;  gratitude 
and  love  bring  health  and  peace  into  his  soul;  for  the 
gracious  words, — "  Arise,  go  thy  way,  thy  faith  hath  made 
thee  whole," — as  spoken  by  Jesus,  carried  with  them  be- 
3'ond  all  doubt  the  assurance  of  sins  forgiven. 

As  our  Lord  was  thus  proceeding  on  His  way  to  Jeru- 
salem, some  of  the  Pharisees  asked  Him  when  the  king- 
dom of  God  was  to  come.  The  question  was  doubtless 
propounded  in  a  spirit  of  ridicule.  Jesus  had  said  much 
of  the  coming  of  this  kingdom ;  3'et,  so  far  as  they  could 
see,  no  such  coming  appeared  imminent,  or  even  proba- 
ble. "At  this  rate  of  progress,  when  is  this  wonderful 
kingdom,  to  the  headship  of  which  you  make  such  extra- 
ordinary pretensions, likely  to  be  established?"  Fathom- 
imr  their  evil  desi";n,  Jesus  answered  them  with  almost 
contemptuous  brevity.  "It  is  simply  absurd,"  said  He, 
"to  expect  to  determine  the  approach  of  this  event  by 
external  signs,  since  it  is  to  come  so  suddenly  as  to  put  to 
naught  all  worldl3Mvise  calculation  ;  and  it  would  be  mere 
folly  to  reveal  to  you  those  signs,  if  there  were  any, — so 
long  as  you  are  blind  to  the  morning  that  has  already 
dawned." 

Turning  from  the  Pharisees  as  unworthy  of  further  no- 
tice, our  Lord  proceeds  to  address  His  disciples  on  the  topic 
thus  suggested.  He  shows  them  that,  although  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  even  now  among  them,  they  will,  under  the 
pressure  of  manifold  tribulations,  long  for  its  speedy  tri- 
umph, and  a  blessed  end  of  all  their  sorro^vs.  He  cau- 
tions them,  however,  against  jilacing  any  confidence  in 
the  supposed  signs  of  His  coming,  which  will  be  blown 
abroad  among  the  credulous  to  their  destruction.  They 
need  give  themselves  no  concern  as  to  signs ;  when  the 
day  of  the  Lord  comes,  it  will  come  too  suddenly  for  cal- 
culations to  avail;  its  presence  will  be  unmistakable  as 


THE  LAST  JOURNEY:  THE  TEX  LEPERS.      573 

that  of  the  lightning,  which,  shooting  across  the  heavens, 
lights  the  whole  landscape  with  its  revealing  blaze.  He 
gives  them  a  new  warning,  that,  while  they  are  secretly 
dreaming  of  preferment  in  His  kingdom,  He,  their  Lord, 
is  going  speedily  down  into  the  depths  of  ignominious  suf- 
fering, since  only  out  of  His  perfect  humiliation  comes 
His  complete  exaltation. 

He  portrays  in  language  of  terrible  vividness  the  woes 
about  to  fall  upon  Jerusalem,  woes  typical  of  the  final 
doom  of  the  ungodly,  as  were  the  overwhelming  waters 
of  the  flood  in  the  days  of  Noah,  or  the  flames  from  which 
Lot  escaped  when  the  cities  of  the  plain  went  down.  Ap- 
parently on  this  occasion,  and  probably  with  the  design 
of  impressing  upon  His  disciples  the  importance  of  prayer 
as  a  preparation  for  impending  trials,  and  support  under 
them,  Jesus  utters  the  parable  of  the  Unjust  Judge  and 
the  Importunate  Widow.  The  simple  argument  of  this 
is,  that  if  persevering  prayer  secured  an  answer  from  an 
unjust  human  magistrate,  by  just  so  much  the  more  as 
God  is  more  wise,  just  and  merciful  than  man,  will  per- 
sistent prayer  prevail  with  Him,  and  that  therefore  men 
ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to  faint. 

"There  was  in  a  city  a  judge  which  feared  not  God 
neither  regarded  man.  And  there  was  a  widow  in  that 
city;  and  she  came  to  him,  saying,  Avenge  me  of  mine 
adversary.  And  he  would  not  for  a  while  ;  but  afterward 
he  said  within  himself,  though  I  fear  not  God  nor  regard 
man,  yet  because  this  widow  troubleth  me,  I  will  avenge 
her,  lest  by  her  continual  coming  she  weary  me.  And 
the  Lord  said,  Hear  what  the  unjust  judge  saith.  And 
shall  not  God  avenge  His  own  elect,  which  cry  day  and 
night  unto  Him,  though  He  bear  long  with  them.  I  tell 
you.  He  will  avenge  them  speedily.  Nevertheless,  when 
the  Son  of  Man  cometh,  shall  Pie  find  faith  on  the  earth  ?" 


CHAPTER    IX. 
THE  LAST  JOURNEY:    PHARISEE  AND   PUBLICAN. 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  PHARISEE  AND  THE  PUBLICAN — THE  TWO  MEN 
CHARACTERIZED — THE  PHARISEE'S  PRAYER — THE  PRAYER  OF  THE 
PUBLICAN — JESUS  GIVES  A  DECISION  ON  THE  LAW  OF  DIVORCE — HIS 
VIEW  OF  CELIBACY — THE  APOSTOLIC  DOCTRINE  OF  MARRIAGE — CHRIST 
BLESSING  LITTLE  CHILDREN — THE  YOUNG  RULER — DISCOURSE  ON  THE 
DANGER    OF    RICHES — PARABLE    OF    THE    LABORERS    LN    THE    VINEYARD. 

Matthew  xix.  3-30.    Mark  x.  13-31.    Luke  xvin.  15-30. 

Human  nature  is  the  same  in  all  ages.  We  are  not, 
therefore,  surprised  to  read  that  our  Lord  encountered 
certain  persons  who  trusted  in  themselves  that  they 
were  righteous  and  desjDised  others.  Self-righteousness 
and  contempt  of  others  were  not  peculiar  to  the  ancient 
Pharisees ;  but  the  following  parable  was  drawn  forth  by 
some  particular  manifestation  of  these — their  character- 
istic vices : 

"  Two  men  went  up  into  the  temple  to  pray ;  the  one  a 
Pharisee,  and  the  other  a  publican.  The  Pharisee  stood 
and  prayed  thus  with  himself:  God,  I  thank  Thee  that  I 
am  not  as  other  men  are,  extortioners,  unjust,  adulterers, 
or  even  as  this  publican.  I  fast  twice  in  the  week ;  I  give 
tithes  of  all  that  I  possess.  And  the  publican,  standing 
afar  off,  would  not  lift  up  so  much  as  his  eyes  unto  heaven, 
but  smote  upon  his  breast,  saying,  God,  be  merciful  to  me 
a  sinner  ?  I  tell  you,  this  man  went  down  to  his  house 
justified  rather  than  the  other;  for  every  one  that  exalt- 


THE  LAST  JOURNEY  :  PHARISEE  AND  PUBLICAN.  575 

eth  himself  shall  be  abased ;  and  he  that  humbleth  him- 
self shall  be  exalted." 

This  parable  is  not  only  wonderfully  graphic  but  loaded 
with  divine  meaninoj.  We  see  the  Pharisee,  in  his  lonfr 
robes  and  broad  phylacteries,  passing  through  the  streets 
of  the  Holy  City,  up  to  the  temple.  Every  look,  every 
gesture,  proclaims  loudly,  "I  am  righteous;  I  am  a  pe- 
culiar favorite  of  heaven ;  I  do  not  belong  to  the  herd  of 
vulgar  sinners ;  stand  aside,  ye  common  and  unclean,  and 
let  me  pass  on  to  my  devotions."  And  the  multitude 
reverently  stand  aside,  while  the  Pharisee  enters  the  sa- 
cred courts,  feeling  that  his  presence  imparts  additional 
sanctity  to  the  place.  But  who  is  this  that  follows  with 
downcast  eyes  and  creeping  steps,  as  if  the  very  pave- 
ment was  polluted  by  his  tread  ?  He  is  dressed  in  the 
garb  of  a  civil  officer,  but  there  is  neither  self-respect  nor 
authority  in  his  bearing,  and  the  people  eye  him  askance 
with  scarcely  suppressed  execrations.  This  man  is  a  pub- 
lican, a  Jew,  yet  a  Eoman  tax-gatherer.  He  also  passes 
into  the  temple. 

Let  us  also  enter,  and  witness  the  devotions  of  these 
so  different  worshipers.  Lo,  yonder  is  our  Pharisee,  stand- 
ing apart  from  the  multitude,  as  if  afraid  of  contamina- 
tion. He  begins  :  "  God,  I  thank  Thee," — surely  a  good 
beginning.  What  more  appropriate  than  thanksgiving  to 
the  Father  of  lights,  from  whom  cometh  down  every  good 
and  perfect  gift  ?  "  God,  I  thank  Thee  that  I  am  not  as 
other  men  are;"  this  also  sounds  well;  for  he  seems 
to  acknowledge  that  he  differs  from  other  men  by  the 
grace  of  God ;  and  what  could  be  more  humble  and  or- 
thodox ?  There  is,  however,  something  in  it  which  we  do 
not  quite  like ;  he  seems  to  put  himself  in  one  category, 
and  his  fellow-men  in  another ;  he  has  no  sympathy  with 
his  brethren  in  their  sins  and  sorrows ;  he  separates  him- 
self from  them  even  in  the  great  congregation.       But 


576  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

wherein,  0  Pharisee,  dost  thou  differ  from  other  men  ? 
'•  Godj  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men,  extor- 
tioners, unjust,  adulterers."  Hast  thou  then  come  up  to 
the  temple  to  confess  the  sins  of  other  men  ?  Dost  thou 
stand  here  as  an  accuser  of  thy  unhappy  brethren  ?  Dost 
thou  regard  it  as  meritorious  that  thou  art  not  guilty  of 
crimes  worthy  of  strij^es  and  imprisonment  ?  But  see  ;  as 
he  utters  the  words,  "  extortioners,  unjust,  adulterers,"  his 
eyes,  in  this  strange  way  of  praying,  fall  on  a  shrinking 
form  in  the  distance,  and  his  brow  lowers,  and  his  lip  curls  : 
'•  I  thank  Thee  that  I  am  not  as  this  publican."  Out  upon 
thee,  thou  hypocrite  !  Hast  thou  no  pity  ?  Seest  thou 
not    that   his    heart  is  breakin2:   with    some    "-reat   sor- 

O  CD 

row  ?  Thou  scornful  Pharisee,  thou  hast  told  us  what 
thou  art  not ;  now  tell  us  what  thou  art ;  give  us  an  in- 
ventory of  thy  virtues  and  good  deeds :  "  I  fast  twice  in 
the  week  ;  I  give  tithes  of  all  I  possess."  Yes,  we  know ; 
but  where  are  judgment,  mercy  and  faith  ?  where  is  love 
to  God  and  man  ?  where  is  the  broken  and  contrite  heart 
that  trembleth  at  God's  word  ?  where  is  the  humble 
walking  before  God  ?  The  Pharisee's  prayer  is  ended ; 
and  a  strange  prayer  it  is.  There  is  not  one  word  of  con- 
fession ;  not  a  petition  of  any  kind.  It  is  a  crystallized 
specimen  of  pure,  self-righteous  egotism. 

Let  us  turn  to  the  publican.  He  also  has  come  up  to 
the  temple  to  pray.  It  is  unwonted  business  for  him,  but 
he  must  pray  or  his  heart  will  break.  He  has  only  one 
thing  to  ask  of  God,  and  he  asks  in  the  most  direct  and 
simple  words:  "God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner!" 
He  is  alone  in  spirit  before  God,  as  conscious  of  his  self- 
hood as  the  Pharisee,  but  in  his  case  the  ego  is  felt  to 
be  polluted  and  guilty:  "have  mercy  on  me  the  sinner!" 
As  if  he  were  the  one  sinner  in  the  universe,  separated 
from  all  other  men  by  his  infinite  guilt.  His  prayer  is 
for  mercy.     He  has  no  thought  of  any  righteousness  of 


THE  LAST  JOUENEY  :    TIIARISEE  AND  PUBLICAN.    577 

his  own,  or  of  earning  justification  by  good  -works,  or  of 
making  satisfaction  to  the  hiw  by  voluntary  suffering. 
The  very  phrase,  "  be  merciful,"  carries  with  it  a  reference 
to  atonement  by  sacrifice.  He  looks  for  forgiveness 
through  the  mere  compassion  of  God,  and  to  that  he 
makes  his  appeal.  There  he  stands,  beating  his  breast, 
and  not  daring  to  lift  his  eyes  to  heaven.  Suddenly,  me- 
thinks  a  change  comes  over  his  countenance  ;  the  expres- 
sion of  anguish  disappears ;  and  as  he  leaves  the  place 
his  step  is  lighter  and  his  form  more  erect.  Two  words, 
LOVE  and  peace,  are  plainly  written  on  his  lately  clouded 
and  tearful  face.  As  he  walks  out  into  the  streets,  the 
sky  bends  lovingly  over  him,  and  a  Father's  eyes  look 
down  tenderly  upon  him ;  for  "  he  went  down  to  his  house 
JUSTIFIED."  Joy  to  that  house !  The  Pharisee  also  goes 
down  to  his  own  house  ;  but  the  heavens  above  are  brass, 
and  the  justice  to  which  he  has  appealed  gathers  in  a 
thick  cloud  over  his  head. 

It  must  have  been  about  this  time  that  the  Pharisees 
came  to  Jesus  with  a  question  much  debated  among  them- 
selves, "Is  it  lawful  for  a  man  to  put  away  his  wife  for 
every  cause  ?  "  It  is  not  quite  clear  whether  their  "tempt- 
ing" Him  was  merely  to  test  his  knowledge  of  the  law, 
or  to  draw  from  Him  what  would  expose  Him  to  the 
wrath  of  Herod  Antipas  and  his  infamous  paramour, 
Herodias,  whose  hands  were  still  reeking  with  the  blood 
of  John  the  Baptist.  Possibly  both  motives  may  have 
prompted  the  question.  A  strict  doctrine  of  divorce  had 
been  taught  by  the  famous  Rabbi  Shammai,  who  asserted 
that  the  dissolution  of  the  marriage  tie  was  unlawful  ex- 
cept for  the  single  cause  of  adultery.  Eabbi  Hillel  and 
his  school,  on  the  contrary,  held  that  arbitrary  divorce 
was  allowed  by  the  law  of  Moses.*     Jesus  did  not  hesi- 


*  Deuteronomy  xxiv.  1. 

37 


578  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

tate  to  give  an  authoritative  decision  of  tliis  great  ques- 
tion, a  question,  in  that  age,  of  immense  practical  impor- 
tance. The  abuse  of  divorce  had  ahnost  dissolved  the 
very  frame-work  of  Eoman  society ;  and  it  was  working 
great  evil  even  among  the  Jews,  a  comparatively  chaste 
find  moral  people.  It  w^as  important  that  the  true  doc- 
trine and  law  of  marriage  should  be  given  to  the  church 
by  the  Master  Himself;  for  it  belongs  to  the  very  foun- 
dation of  social  virtue.  In  this  case,  therefore,  our  Lord 
exercised  His  function  as  Legislator,  and  enunciated  a  law 
which  will  be  bindino;  on  nations  and  individuals  to  the 
end  of  time : 

"  And  he  answered  and  said  unto  them,  What  did  Moses 
command  you  ?  And  they  said,  Moses  suffered  to  write  a 
bill  of  divorcement  and  to  put  her  away.  And  Jesus  an- 
swered and  said  unto  them,  For  the  hardness  of  your  heart, 
he  wrote  you  this  precept;  but  from  the  beginning  of  the 
creation,  God  made  them  male  and  female.  For  this 
cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  mother,  and  cleave 
unto  his  wife,  and  they  tw^ain  shall  be  one  flesh ;  so  then 
they  are  no  more  twain  but  one  flesh.  What,  therefore, 
God  hath  joined  together,  let  not  man  put  asunder.  And 
I  say  unto  you.  Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  except 
it  be  for  fornication,  an(i  shall  marry  another,  committeth 
adultery ;  and  whosoever  marrieth  her  that  is  put  away, 
committeth  adultery." 

These  words  of  our  Lord  forbid  divorce  by  the  husband 
or  the  civil  magistrate,  except  for  a  single  cause.  Nei- 
ther Milton  nor  any  later  writer  has  made  good  the  ar- 
gument for  more.  Jesus  found  the  law  of  marriage  in 
the  history  of  the  original  pair.  God  made  man  male 
and  female,  not  two  but  one — "one  flesh," — one  living 
whole.  The  union  of  husband  and  wife  was  to  be  one 
of  life  and  soul;  and  to  be  indissoluble,  till  the  flesh  itself 
is  dissolved.     Nothing  which  does  not,  of  itself,  destroy 


THE   LAST  JOURNEY  :    PHARISEE  AND  PUBLICAN.    579 

this  unitj  in  duality — and  nothing  but  adultery  does  de- 
stroy it — can  justify  the  separation  of  those  whom  God 
hath  joined  together.  This  doctrine  seemed  hard  to  the 
disciples:  "If  the  case  of  a  man  be  so  with  his  wife,  it  is 
not  good  to  marry."  In  reply,  our  Lord  does  not  deny 
the  lawfulness  of  celibacy,  provided  it  be  ^^for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven's  sake."  "  His  decision  was  opposed  not 
only  to  the  old  Hebrew  notion  that  celibacy  was  per  se 
ignominious,  but  also  to  the  ascetic  doctrine  which  made 
it^er  se  a  superior  condition  of  life;  a  doctrine  so  widely 
diffused  in  later  times.  He  taught  that  the  heart  must 
be  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
these  must  modify  all  the  relations  of  life,  as  necessity 
may  require."* 

The  words  of  the  apostle  are  the  necessary  complement 
of  those  of  our  Master :  "  Wives,  submit  yourselves  to 
your  own  husbands,  as  unto  the  Lord.  For  the  husband 
is  the  head  of  the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the 
church ;  and  He  is  the  Saviour  of  the  bod}^  Therefore 
as  the  church  is  subject  unto  Christ,  so  let  the  wives  be 
to  their  own  husbands  in  every  thing.  Husbands,  love 
your  wives,  even  as  Christ  loved  the  church,  and  gave 
Himself  for  it,  that  He  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it  with 
the  washing  of  water  by  the  word,  that  He  might  present 
it  to  Himself  a  glorious  church,  not  having  spot,  or  wrinkle, 
or  any  such  thing ;  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without 
blemish.  So  ought  men  to  love  their  wives  as  their  own 
bodies.  He  that  loveth  his  wife,  loveth  himself  For  no 
man  ever  yet  hated  his  own  flesh,  bat  nourisheth  and  cher- 
isheth  it,  even  as  the  Lord  the  church.  For  we  are  mem- 
bers of  His  body,  of  His  flesh,  and  of  His  bones.  For 
this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  mother,  and 
be  joined  unto  his  wife,  and  they  two  shall  be  one  flesh. 

*Neander's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  pages  330,  321. 


5SD  THE    LIFE    OF    CURIST. 

This  is  a  great  mystery,  but  I  speak  concerning  Christ 
and  the  church."* 

It  is  clearly  the  teaching  of  the  apostle,  that  the  union 
of  husband  and  wife  is  one,  not  only  of  physical  life, 
but  of  soul  and  spirit,  a  union  so  sacred  that  it  requires 
a  reciprocal  love  like  that  between  Christ  and  His  church ; 
a  union,  therefore,  which  can  only  be  dissolved  by  the 
sin  of  conjugal  infidelity,  a  sin  equivalent  to  the  apostasy  ^ 
of  the  church  from  her  Head. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  our  Lord's  discourse  on  mar- 
riage led  to  some  conversation  on  children,  and  especially 
on  their  relation  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  This  may  have 
been  the  occasion  of  the  beautiful  incident  which  three 
of  the  evangelists  have  so  carefully  recorded  in  connec- 
tion with  that  discourse.  When  it  is  said  that  little 
children  were  brought  to  Him,  it  is  impossible  to  doubt 
that  they  were  brought  by  their  parents.  The  popular 
pictures  doubtless  rightly  make  the  mothers  most  conspic- 
uous in  this  scene.  Women  and  children  were  powerfullj' 
drawn  to  Jesus.  They  felt  that  He  was  in  sympathy 
with  them,  that  He  understood  them,  that  it  was  good  for 
them  to  be  near  Him,  that  the  very  glance  of  His  eye, 
the  very  touch  of  His  finger,  brought  to  them  benediction 
and  joy. 

These  mothers  brought  their  "little  children,"  (Mat- 
thew), their  "young  children,"  (Mark),  their  "infants," 
(Luke,)  to  the  Saviour,  that  He  should  touch  them,  and 
pray.  The  apostles,  annoyed  and  displeased  at  what 
probably  struck  them  as  foolish  superstition,  and  wishing 
to  save  their  Master  from  needless  trouble,  rebuked  the 
persons  who  thus  interrupted  His  discourse ;  but  Jesus, 
touched  by  every  demonstration  of  love  and  faith,  was 
in  His  turn  much  displeased,  and  rebuked  the  apostles 

*  Ephesians  v.  22-32. 


THE  LAST  journey:  THE  YOUNG  RULER.     581 

for  their  unauthorized  interference:  "Suffer  little  children 
to  come  unto  Me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you.  Whosoever 
shall  not  receive  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  little  child.  He 
shall  in  no  wise  enter  therein.  Having  said  this,  He  took 
tliem  up  in  His  arms,  put  His  hands  upon  them  and 
blessed  them."  We  can  not  doubt  that  these  children 
were  the  better,  then  and  through  life,  for  this  blessing 
of  Christ.  Though  they  were  mere  infants,  incapable  of 
understanding  His  words,  or  of  believing  in  Him  as  the 
Son  of  God,  they  were  capable  of  receiving  real  benefit 
from  the  laying  on  of  His  hands  and  from  His  prayers. 
And  the  benefit  thus  imparted  was  not  of  a  physical  char- 
acter. There  is  no  intimation  that  they  were  diseased 
and  were  brought  to  Him  to  be  healed  ;  but  the  rebuke 
addressed  to  the  parents  by  the  disciples,  implies  the  con- 
trary. The  benefit  sought  and  received  by  them  was 
purely  spiritual, — the  blessing  of  grace.  It  is  evident, 
therefore,  that  little  .children  may  be  the  real  though  un- 
conscious recipients  of  saving  grace,  and  may,  therefore, 
belong  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  Our  Lord  not  only  de- 
clares it,  but  also  asserts  as  a  universal  principle,  that  none 
hilt  children  can  enter  that  kingdom.  Those  who  have 
come  to  mature  age  without  becoming  subjects  of  His 
kingdom,  must  again  become  children,  even  hahes,  hy  being 
born  again  ;  so  that  of  children  the  kingdom  is  comjjosed. 
Thus  Jesus  sets  forth  the  great  truth  that  the  children  of 
the  covenant,  children  that  are  brought  to  Him  by  be- 
lieving parents,  are  to  be  regarded  as  in  the  state  and 
grace  of  regeneration,  and  therefore  as  already  entitled 
to  the  privileges  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  not  a  vain 
thing  for  parents  to  present  their  children  in  faith  to 
Christ,  especially  in  holy  baptism;  and  assuredly  His 
life-giving  touch  and  gracious  benediction  will  not  be 
withheld. 


582  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

After  Jesus  had  left  the  house  and  gone  forth  into  the 
highway,  a  certain  man  who  was  a  ruler — possibly  of  the 
Sanhedrim,  more  likely  of  the  synagogue, — "  came  run- 
ning, and  kneeled  to  Him,  and  asked  Him,  saying :  Good 
Master,  what  shall  I  do,  that  I  may  inherit  eternal  life?" 
This  man  certainly  was  not  a  Pharisee ;  his  appearance 
was  attractive  ;  his  approach  to  Jesus  indicated  reverence 
and  earnestness,  and  his  question  was  the  most  important 
which  he  could  have  asked.  Considering  his  wealth  and 
his  high  social  standing,  his  desire  to  lay  hold  on  eternal 
life,  thus  publicly  expressed,  was  evidence  of  a  degree  of 
moral  elevation  unusual  in  his  class.  It  is  not  certain 
that  he  regarded  Jesus  as  more  than  a  great  and  wise 
Teacher ;  but  his  kneeling  favors  the  opinion  that  he 
reverenced  Him  as  a  Prophet.  Our  Lord,  wishing  to  lead 
him  to  a  knowledge  of  his  own  character  in  the  sight  of 
God,  said  to  him,  "  Why  callest  thou  Me  good  ?  There  is 
none  good  but  One,  that  is,  God,"  God  alone  is  absolutely 
good  :  whether  I  am  good  in  that  sense  I  say  not ;  but 
what  art  thou  in  the  sight  of  this  good  God  ?  Thou  know- 
est  His  commandments.  The  young  man  asked  to  which 
of  the  commandments  Jesus  especially  referred.  "  Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery,  Thou  slialt  not  steal,  Thou  shalt 
not  kill.  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness,  Honor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother,  and  thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself"  The  young  man,  ignorant  of  his  o\Vn  heart, 
and  tliinking  only  of  external  obedience,  answered  with 
sincerity,  "  All  these  things  have  I  kept  from  my  youth 
up."  He  was  steeped  in  self-righteousness,  though  he 
knew  it  not.  He  was  so  frank,  so  truthful  though  so  mis' 
taken,  and  he  had  such  noble  impulses  notwithstanding 
his  spiritual  blindness,  that  Jesus  loved  him.  He  was 
drawn  to  him  by  his  natural  qualities,  as  He  had  been  to 
Lazarus  and  John ;  and  had  he  not  lacked  one  thing  he 
would  probably  have  been  one  of  a  glorious  trio,  tlie  three 


THE  LAST  JOURNEY  :  THE  YOUNG  RULER.    583 

friends  of  Jesus.  "One  thing,"  said  Jesus,  "thou  lackest: 
go  thj  way,  sell  all  that  thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor, 
and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven,  and  come,  take 
up  the  cross  and  follow  Me."  Jesus  doubtless  saw  that 
in  the  heart  of  this  noble  young  man,  love  of  the  world 
was  so  despotic  that  it  could  only  be  dethroned  by  the 
absolute  sacrifice  of  all  his  earthly  possessions.  What  he 
lacked  was  love — love  to  give  his  all  for  Christ's  sake. 
This  unexpected  answer  of  Christ  overwhelmed  the  in- 
quirer with  distress.  He  wanted  eternal  life ;  but  he 
wanted  also  riches,  and  the  applause  of  men.  He  could 
not  renounce  the  world  for  the  sake  of  becoming  the  fol- 
lower of  Him  who  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head ;  so  he 
went  away  sorrowing. 

As  he  departed  Jesus  turned  to  His  disciples,  and  said : 
"  How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God  ! "  Perceiving  their  blank  astonishment 
at  His  words.  He  explained ;  "  Children,  how  hard  is  it 
for  them  that  trust  in  riches  to  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God !  It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye 
of  a  needle,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God."  The  amazement  of  the  disciples  at  these  words 
passed  all  bounds,  and  they  exclaimed,  "Who  then  can 
be  saved  ?  "  This  is  a  plain  proof  that  they  had  not  up 
to  this  time,  understood  Him  to  teach  the  doctrine  of  un- 
conditional poverty  as  necessary  to  salvation.  And  He 
did  not  teach  it  now.  On  the  contrary.  He  set  forth  the 
extreme  difficulty  with  which  the  hearts  of  the  rich  can 
be  detached  from  their  possessions, — their  idol, — without 
which,  assuredly,  they  can  not  be  saved.  "With  men," 
Jesus  said,  "this  is  impossible  ;. but  not  with  God;  for 
with  God  all  things  are  possible." 

Peter,  not  we  think,  to  boast  of  the  sacrifices  he  had 
made,  here  exclaimed,  "  Behold  we  have  forsaken  all  and 
followed  Thee  :   what  shall  we  have  therefore  ? "      The 


584  THE    LIFE    OF    CnPJST. 

answer  of  Jesus  is  memorable  and  "very  full  of  comfort:" 
"  Verily,  1  say  unto  you,  that  ye  which  have  followed  Me, 
in  the  regeneration,  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  on  the 
throne  of  His  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones, 
judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  And  every  one  that 
hath  forsaken  houses,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or 
mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  name's  sake, 
shall  receive  an  hundred  fold,  and  shall  inherit  everlast- 
ing life.  But  many  that  are  first  shall  be  last;  and  the 
last  first."  Peter's  question  seemed  to  intimate,  that  the 
sacrifice  which  he  and  his  fellow-disciples  had  made,  mer- 
ited some  eminent  reward  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Jesus 
would  not  leave  him  in  this  error;  but  proceeded  to  show, 
in  a  parable,  that  the  rewards  of  the  heavenly  kingdom 
were  not  of  debt  but  of  grace;  that  they  who  were  called 
first,  and  labored  longest,  have  no  more  claim  upon  God 
than  those  who  were  called  last ;  but  that  to  all  the  cove- 
nant promise  shall  be  fulfilled  in  its  integrity.* 

"  For  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is 
an  householder,  which  went  out  early  in  the  morning  to 
hire  laborers  into  his  vineyard.  And  when  he  had  agreed 
with  the  laborers  for  a  penny  a  day,  he  sent  them  into 
his  vineyard.  And  he  went  out  about  the  third  hour, 
and  saw  others  standing  idle  in  the  market-place,  and  he 
said  unto  them,  Go  ye  also  into  the  vineyard ;  and  what- 
soever is  right  I  will  give  you.  And  they  went  their  way. 
Again,  he  went  out  about  the  sixth  and  ninth  hour,  and 
did  likewise.  And  about  the  eleventh  hour  he  went  out, 
nnd  found  others  standing  idle,  and  saith  unto  them.  Why 
stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ?  They  say  unto  him,  Be- 
cause no  man  hath  hired  us.  He  saith  unto  them.  Go  ye 
also  into  the  vineyard,  and  whatsoever  is  right  that  shall 
ye  receive.     So  when  even  was  come,  the   lord  of  the 

*  Alford  in  loco. 


THE  LAST  JOUKNEY  :  THE  YOUNG  RULER.     [)?5 

vineyard  saitli  unto  his  steward,  Call  the  laborers  and 
give  them  their  hire,  beginning  from  the  last  unto  the 
first.  And  when  they  came  that  were  hired  about  the 
eleventh  hour,  they  received  every  man  a  penny.  But 
when  the  first  came,  they  supposed  that  they  should  have 
received  more ;  and  they  likewise  received  every  man  a 
penny.  And  when  they  had  received  it,  they  murmured 
against  the  good  man  of  the  house,  saying,  These  last 
have  wrought  but  one  hour,  and  thou  hast  made  them 
equal  unto  us,  which  have  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of 
the  day.  But  he  answered  one  of  them,  and  said.  Friend, 
I  do  thee  no  wrong ;  didst  not  thou  agree  with  me  for  a 
penny  ?  Take  that  thine  is,  and  go  thy  way ;  I  will  give 
unto  this  last,  even  as  unto  thee.  Is  it  not  lawful  for  me 
to  do  what  I  will  with  mine  owai  ?  Is  thine  eye  evil  be- 
cause I  am  good  ?  So  the  last  shall  be  first,  and  the  first 
last ;  for  many  be  called,  but  few  chosen." 


CHAPTER    X/ 

THE  LAST  JOURNEY:    THE   AMBITIOUS   DISCIPLES. 

JESUS  PREDICTS  HIS  SUFFERINGS  AND  DEATH — SALOME'S  AMBITIOUS  HB- 
QUEST  FOR  HER  SONS  —  OUR  LORD'S  DISPOSAL  OF  THE  MATTER — IN 
DIGNATION  OF  THE  OTHER  DISCIPLES — ^OUR  LORD's  DISCOURSE  ON 
ECCLESIASTICAL    AMBITION — HEALING    OF    BLIND    BARTIMEUS. 

Matthew  xx.  17-34.     Mark  x.  32-52.     Luke  xtiii.  l-'IO;  31-34. 

Jesus  was  rapidly  advancing  towards  Jerusalem,  the 
fatal  city.  The  route  He  had  chosen,-  for  reasons  already 
mentioned,  was  a  circuitous  one,  leading  through  the 
valley  of  the  Jordan  and  the  city  of  Jericho.  The  caravan 
from  Galilee  and  beyond  Jordan  to  which  He  and  His 
disciples  appear  to  have  attached  themselves,  was  by  this 
time  probably  descending  the  barren  mountains  which 
slope  towards  the  Jordan  from  the  west.  The  forest  of 
palms  and  the  city  of  Jericho  were  doubtless  in  view  in 
the  distance,  while  away  to  the  right  stretched  the  jagged 
range  of  the  white  limestone  hills  of  Judea.  The  sig^ht 
of  these  distant  hills  would  naturally  suggest  to  the  dis- 
ciples whither  they  were  going,  and  the  dangers  that 
must  attend  the  journe}'.  They  were  "  amazed "  and 
"  afraid  "  at  the  prospect.  Possibly  also  there  Avas  that 
in  the  countenance  and  bearing  of  their  Lord,  which 
added  to  their  concern.  Their  feelings,  however,  w^ere 
not  wholly  those  of  natural  terror.  Though  their  views 
of  Jesus  and  His  mission  were  crude  and  defective,  they 
still  had  living  faith  in  Him  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  were 


THE   LAST  JOUKNEY  :    THE  ASIBITIOUS   DISCIPLES.    587 

looking  and  longing  for  His  full  manifestation  to  Israel. 
And  He  was  now  about  to  respond  to  this  expectation. 
The  crisis  was  at  hand.  And  though  they  had  no  doubt 
as  to  the  final  issue,  they  apprehended  a  fearful  commotion 
and  struggle.  Jesus  would  be  recognized  as  the  Messiah 
and  His  glorious  kingdom  established ;  but  considering 
the  hostility  of  the  powerful  sects  arrayed  against  Him, 
and  the  strength  of  the  Roman  authorities,  what  dreadful 
conflicts  might  intervene ! 

Knowing  what  was  passing  in  their  minds ;  and  know- 
ing;, too,  that  while  He  was  to  enter  Jerusalem  and  the 
temple  as  the  Holy  King,  amidst  the  acclamations  of 
seemingly  loyal  multitudes,  all  this  was  speedily  to  be 
followed  by  the  treason  of  Judas,  the  mock  trial,  the 
execrations  of  the  people,  and  the  cruel  death  of  the 
cross,  our  Lord  again  took  the  twelve  apart  and  plainly 
declared  to  them  His  approaching  sufferings  and  deatli : 
"  Behold  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem ;  and  the  Son  of  man 
shall  be  delivered  unto  the  chief  priests,  and  unto  the 
scribes,  and  they  shall  condemn  Him  to  death,  and  shall 
deliver  Him  to  the  Gentiles,  and  they  shall  mock  Plim, 
and  shall  spit  upon  Him,  and  shall  kill  Him ;  and  the 
third  day  He  shall  rise  again."  This  was  sufficiently  ex- 
plicit, but  the  apostles  understood  it  not.  They  could 
not  believe  that  He  whom  they  looked  upon  as  the  King 
of  Israel  was  about  to  suffer  a  shameful  death.  Precisely 
what  He  meant  they  could  not  conjecture ;  but  they 
seemed  to  think  He  was  speaking  figuratively.  Danger, 
they  knew,  was  at  hand  ;  but  they  looked  for  some  sud- 
den, supernatural  deliverance.  They  were,  however,  per- 
plexed and  dispirited  by  what  they  had  heard,  and  fol- 
lowed Jesus  trembling. 

It  was  probably  about  this  time  that  they  joined  the 
Galilee  caravan,  in  which  were  doubtless  many  friends 
and  fellow-disciples,  all  oyerjoyed  to  see  once  more  their 


588  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

beloved  Master.  It  would  seem  that  the  loving  and  en- 
thusiastic Salome  here  met  her  two  sons,  and  perhaps 
heard  from  their  lips  what  Jesus  had  just  said.  In  this 
view  there  was  something  noble  in  the  request  which  she 
preferred  in  their  behalf.  Coming  to  Jesus  and  "worship- 
ing" Ilim,  she  presented  to  Him  James  and  John,  who 
themselves  joined  in  the  petition,  saying,  "Grant  that 
these  my  two  sons  may  sit,  the  one  on  Thy  right  hand 
and  the  other  on  the  left,  in  Thy  kingdom."  Doubtless  Sa- 
lome trul}^  honored  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  and  though  her 
prayer  was  tainted  with  selfish  ambition,  we  must  by  no 
means  think  of  her  as  destitute  of  a  higher  and  purer 
feeling.  Surely  a  mother  may  lawfully  ask  that  her  sons 
may  be  near  to  Christ  in  danger,  and  reign  with  Him  in 
glory.  The  fault  of  Salome  lay  in  that  low  conception 
of  Christ's  kingdom,  from  which  her  faith  was  not  wholly 
freed.  She  evidently  thought  it  was  about  to  appear,  and 
she  longed  to  see  her  sons  occupy  the  chief  places  in  it. 
We  can  not  but  think  that  James  and  John  joined  in  the 
request  with  clearer  and  loftier  views.  They  were  already 
closely  associated  with  Jesus,  and  John  always  sat  on  His 
right  hand;  he  w^as  " that  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved;" 
he  had  long  been  in  intimate  communion  with  Him ;  and 
he  may  have  aspired,  more  from  love  than  ambition,  to  be 
near  his  adorable  Master  in  His  kingdom.  Besides,  it  is 
probable  that  the  "sons  of  thunder"  intended  to  assure 
our  Lord  of  their  unflinching  fidelity  in  the  time  of  trial 
which  was  at  hand.  Though  He  had  spoken  to  them  of 
His  rejection,  and  condemnation  by  the  chief  priests  and 
scribes,  and  of  the  cruel  outrages  He  Avas  soon  to  suffer 
from  the  Gentiles  ;  though  He  had  plainly  told  them  that 
He  was  al)out  to  be  crucified,  they  professed  their  un- 
shaken fiiith  in  His  final  triumph,  and  their  willingness  to 
cast  in  their  lot  with  Him  for  weal  or  for  woe. 

We  believe  that  Jesus  regarded  the  petitioners  with 


THE  LAST  JOURNEY  :   TUE  AMBITIOUS  DISCIPLES.    589 

pitying  eyes,  as  He  said  to  them,  "Ye  know  not  what  ye 
a.sk  :  can  ye  drink  of  the  cup  that  1  drink  ui',  and  be  bap- 
tized with  the  baptism  that  I  am  baptized  with?"  As 
if  He  had  said,  "Akis  you  know  not  what  is  involved  in 
your  request.  Are  you  sure  that  you  can  drink  the  cup 
of  death,  which  I  am  about  to  drink  even  to  the  dreo-s  ? 
Can  you  go  down  into  those  depths  of  suffering  in  which 
I  am  about  to  be  overwhchned  ? "  The  two  disciples  an- 
swer with  an  assurance  which  almost  makes  us  shudder, 
"We  can."  Their  sincerity  is  as  undoubted  as  their  igno- 
rance. They  had  unwittingly  asked  that  they  might  take 
the  place  of  the  two  thieves  who  were  crucified  with 
Christ;  but  though  w^e  may  doubt  whether  they  would 
have  spoken  so  confidently,  had  they  known  the  dread 
baptism  for  which  they  offered  themselves,  w^e  do  not 
question  their  earnest  purpose  to  follow  their  Lord  at  all 
hazards.  Their  devoted  love  to  Jesus,  however,  was  tinc- 
tured with  natural  self-reliance  :  "  We  are  ahk."  Surely 
they  know  not  what  they  say. 

Our  Lord,  knowing  the  love  that  lies  at  the  bottom 
of  their  hearts,  deals  with  them  tenderly :  "  Ye  shall 
indeed  drink  of  My  cup ;  and  be  baptized  with  the  bap- 
tism that  I  am  baptized  with;  but  to  sit  on  My  right 
hand  and  on  My  left  is  not  Mine  to.  give ;  but  it  shall  be 
given  to  them  for  whom  it  is  prepared  of  My  Father." 
Did  James  remember  these  words  when  he  fell  a  martyr 
nnder  the  persecuting  rage  of  Herod  ?  Did  John  recall 
this  prophecy  when  he  was  an  exile  in  Patmos  for  the 
testimony  of  Jesus  ?  They  did  drink  of  the  cup  of  Chiist ; 
they  to  ere  baptized  with  His  baptism ;  and  they  did  not 
falter  when  the  trial  came,  but  they  found  that  all  their 
sufficiency  was  of  God.  They  were  enabled  to  redeem 
the  pledge  which  they  ignorantly  gave.  Though  they 
knew  not  the  full  extent  of  their  promise,  it  sprang  from 
the  deep  prophetic  feeling  of  their  hearts.     And  Jesus 


590  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

took  them  at  their  word,  and  through  His  grace  they  kept 
that  word  unto  death. 

When  the  ten  apostles  saw  how  Salome  and  her  sons 
had  thus  stolen  the  march  on  them,  they  w^ere  full  of 
indignation.  They  regarded  it  as  an  attempt  to  cir- 
cumvent them.  Doubtless  each  of  them  thought  that 
he  had  a  special  title  to  distinction  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.  They  were  blinded  by  worldly  feelings  and  mo- 
tives. They  were  not  unlike  modern  office-seekers,  who 
surround  a  new  dignitary  with  warm  professions  of  devo- 
tion to  his  person  and  his  interests,  and  who  regard  with 
angry  jealousy  the  more  favored  among  his  clients.  Now 
I  would  b}^  no  means  intimate  that  the  disciples  were,  on 
the  whole,  like  the  greedy  parasites  of  a  rising  statesman. 
There  was  at  least  but  one  in  the  apostolic  college  open 
to  such  a  comparison — I  mean  Judas  Iscariot — but  they 
were  all  jealous  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  and  a  bitter 
quarrel  was  imminent.  Jesus,  therefore,  called  them  to 
Him  and  said  to  them  :  "  Ye  know  that  the  princes  of  the 
Gentiles  exercise  dominion  over  them,  and  their  great 
ones  exercise  authority  upon  them ;  but  it  shall  not  be 
so  among  you;  but  whosoever  will  be  great  among  you 
let  him  be  your  minister;  and  whosoever  will  be  chief 
among  j^ou  let  him  be  your  servant — yea,  the  servant  of 
all.  Even  as  the  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered 
tmto  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for 
many." 

In  these  marvellous  words  Christ  lays  open  the  inmost 
nature  of  His  kingdom,  and  teaches  the  apostles  how 
they  may  attain  its  highest  honors  and  rewards.  These 
are  "  prepared  of  the  Father  "  for  those  who  are  the  most 
humble  and  the  most  useful.  Those  who  are  as  little  chil- 
dren, artless  and  lowly  in  heart ;  those  who  are  self-sacri- 
ficing servants  of  their  brethren ;  who  think  no  place 
an<l  no  labors  degrading  by  which  they  can   do  good ; 


THE    LAST  JOURNEY  :    THE   AMBITIOT'S   DISCIPLES.    591 

they  shall  be  near  Christ  in  Ilis  kingdom;  they  AvdW  At 
on  His  right  hand  and  on  His  left ;  they  shall  enter  into 
the  joy  and  sit  down  on  the  throne  of  their  Lord.  Thus, 
in  the  kingdom  of  God,  all  preeminence  rests  on  love, 
and  love  teaches  ns  to  serve  others.  Love  in  self-sacrifice 
is  so  mighty  a  power  that  those  who  manifest  it  in  its 
highest  energy  attain  to  Avide  dominion.  Men  are  true 
kings,  even  in  this  world,  in  proportion  to  the  love  that 
is  in  them.  The  disciples  were  not  wrong  in  assuming 
that  there  were  degrees  of  nearness  to  the  Lord ;  some- 
thing of  this  kind  existed  at  that  very  time.  The  sev- 
enty were  further  removed  from  Him  than  the  twelve ; 
and  among  these  again  Peter,  James  and  John  stood 
nearest  to  Him,  while  only  John  lay  in  His  bosom.  The 
mistake  lay  in  their  confounding  earthly  with  spiritual 
dominion.  The  former,  founded  on  force  and  wielded 
by  selfishness,  passes  naturally  into  oppression  ;  the  latter, 
resting  on  moral  influence,  and  exercised  in  love,  blesses 
all  who  yield  to  its  authority.  The  Saviour  sets  Himself 
before  His  followers  as  the  perfect  pattern  of  holy,  self- 
sacrificing,  ministering  love,  in  which  alone  lies  His  royal 
power  and  preeminence. 

Soon  after  this  conversation  the  caravan  passed  through 
Jericho.  It  is  probable  that  our  Lord  remained  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  city  at  least  one  night ;  and  He 
there  Avrought  miracles  concerning  which  the  accounts  of 
the  evangelists  differ.  Matthew  records  the  healing  of 
two  blind  men,  when  Jesus  left  Jericho;  Mark  mentions 
only  one;  while  Luke  gives  an  account  of  a  similar  case 
w^hen  Jesus  was  about  to  enter  the  cit}^  We  are  at 
liberty  to  accept  any  natural  hypothesis  which  harmo- 
nizes the  records.  The  city  was  a  large  one,  and  Ijlind- 
ness  a  frequent  disease  of  the  climate.  What  is  more 
probable  than  that  a  blind  beggar  was  healed  while  Jesus 
was  entering  Jericho,  and  that,  while  he  joyfully  followed 


592  THE  LIFE  OF  cnrjsT. 

his  Benefactor,  lie  bethought  him  of  his  late  companions 
in  affliction,  and  especially  of  his  friend  Bartimeus,  who 
sat  at  the  opj)Osite  gate  ?  Using  his  new  gift  of  sight,  he 
hastened  to  apprise  the  sufferers  of  the  Helper  that  was 
at  hand,  urging  them  to  share  in  his  own  experience,  and 
prompting  the  very  words  in  which  the  petition  was  con- 
vej'ed.  AVe  can  not  but  regard  it  as  highly  probable  that 
at  least  three  blind  men  were  healed  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Jericho.  We  select  for  narration  the  case  of  Bartimeus. 
This  poor  man  on  being  informed  that  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth was  passing  by,  began  to  cry  out:  "Jesus,  thou  Son 
of  David,  have  mercy  on  me!"  He  had  heard  of  Jesus, 
and  believed  in  Him  as  the  promised  Messiah.  His  im- 
portunity was  so  clamorous  that  many  bade  him  hold  his 
peace ;  but  he  thereupon  became  more  earnest  and  im- 
portunate. At  last  Jesus  paused  and  commanded  the  man 
to  be  called.  See  him  casting  away  his  garments  and  run- 
ning to  Jesus.  "  What  wilt  thou,"  said  our  Lord,  "  tha't  I 
should  do  unto  thee?"  "Lord,  that  I  may  receive  my 
sight."  "  Go  thy  way,"  said  Jesus,  "  thy  faith  hath  made 
thee  whole."  His  way,  after  he  was  healed,  was  up  to 
Jerusalem. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  LAST  JOURNEY:    CONVERSION  OF  ZACCHEUS. 

JERICHO  AND  ITS  NEIGnBORHOOD — ZACCHEUS — HE  SEEKS  TO  SEE  JESUS  — 
JESUS  AT  THE  HOUSE  OF  ZACCHEUS — HEREDITARY  PIETY  A  LAW  OF 
god's    KINGDOM — PARABLE    OF    THE    TEN    POUNDS. 

Luke  xix.  1-27. 

Jericho,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  was  a  city  of  great 
wealth  and  importance.  It  lay  in  a  broad  plain  which  is 
overhung  on  the  west  by  that  high  and  barren  mountain, 
on  which,  according  to  tradition,  our  Saviour  was  assailed 
by  the  tempter,  and  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  moun- 
tains of  Moab.  In  the  midst  of  this  plain  flowed  the 
Jordan,  here  about  to  lose  its  limpid  waters  in  the  Dead 
Sea.  The  climate,  though  hot  and  unhealthy  in  the  sum- 
mer, was,  in  winter,  most  delicious ;  hence,  perhaps,  it  was 
a  favorite  residence  of  the  priests.  The  broad  valley  was 
famous  for  its  fertility,  and  for  its  stately  groves  of  palm, 
balsam,  cypress,  fig  and  olive  trees.  It  was  indeed  a  re- 
gion of  perennial  verdure  and  bloom,  well  deserving  its 
name — the  land  of  heaven.  The  city  had  been  rebuilt 
and  fortified  by  Herod  the  Great;  and  was  afterwards 
greatly  embellished  by  Archelaus,  who  brought  water 
from  a  distance  in  costly  aqueducts,  the  ruins  of  which  are 
still  visible.  The  city  was  rich  in  treasures  of  all  kinds, 
for  it  lay  near  one  of  the  fords  of  the  Jordan,  and  on  an 
important  caravan  road,  thus  sustaining  important  com- 
mercial relations  with  the  east  and  north  as  well  as  with 
38 


594  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

Jerusalem.  The  revenues  of  the  city  had  long  been  so 
important  that  the  collection  of  them  was  entrusted  only 
to  men  of  energy  and  capacity.  The  head  tax-gatherer 
of  Jericho  was  a  citizen  of  distinction  and  ability,  though 
he  could  not  hope  to  enjoy  the  good-will  of  the  people. 
A  publican  in  that  age  was  regarded  as  a  traitor  to  his 
country,  aud  a  renegade  from  his  religion.  He  was 
treated  as  a  heathen  and  an  outcast.  The  Pharisees 
would  have  regarded  themselves  as  defiled  by  entering 
his  house  or  sitting  with  him  at  meat. 

The  chief  officer  of  the  revenue,  when  Jesus  came  to 
the  city,  was  a  man  named  Zaccheus,  a  Jew  by  blood, 
though  virtually  excommunicated  on  account  of  his  em- 
ployment. He  was  doubtless  a  man  of  capacity,  well 
versed  in  human  nature ;  a  shrewd,  perhaps  somewhat 
unscrupulous  man  of  the  world,  holding  the  bigotry  of 
his  nation  in  contempt,  and  not  slow  in  returning  scorn 
for  scorn.  A  man  of  a  different  character  would  scarcely 
have  accepted  such  an  office  under  the  Roman  govern- 
ment ;  he  would  not  certainly  have  been  long  retained  in 
it.  There  is  no  evidence  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  ex- 
traordinary extortion,  though  his  employment  was  lucra- 
tive, and  he  had  accumulated  a  large  fortune.  We  infer 
from  his  own  words  to  Jesus  that  his  hands  were  by  no 
means  pure.  Zaccheus  had  doubtless  often  heard  of  Jesus, 
and  it  is  just  possible  that  he  was  acquainted  with  Levi 
or  Matthew  who  had  also  been  a  publican  in  Galilee. 
However  this  may  be,  the  history  almost  compels  us  to 
suppose  that  there  had  been  a  preparatory  work  of  divine 
grace  in  his  heart.  Probably  he  had  begun  to  feel  that 
he  was  an  outcast  from  the  society  of  the  good ;  that  his 
wealth  was  dearly  purchased  and  unsatisfying.  He  felt 
that  his  life  had  been  selfish,  and  who  knows  but  he  had 
sometimes  cried,  smiting  on  his  breast,  "God,  be  merciful 
to  me  a  sinner  I "     He  had  heard  of  Jesus  and  wished  to 


THE   LAST  JOURNEY  :    CONVERSION  OF  ZACCHEUS.    595 

see  Him,  and  this  was  in  his  case  a  matter  of  difficulty ; 
for,  being  a  man  of  small  stature,  he  was  unable  to  over- 
look the  multitute  who  thronged  about  the  Saviour.  He 
therefore  ran  ahead  of  the  procession,  and  climbed  up  into 
a  sycamore  tree  which  stood  by  the  way.  Perched  thus 
upon  the  tree  he  awaited  the  approach  of  Jesus. 

Onward  He  comes,  superhuman  purity  in  every  linea- 
ment and  motion.  0  Zaccheus,  why  does  such  a  sense 
of  unworthiness — such  a  feeling  of  shame  and  compunc- 
tion— weigh  down  thy  heart?  Whence  this  desire  that 
thou  too  wert  His  disciple  ?  Why  does  thy  heart  swell 
and  thine  eye  moisten,  as  thou  gazest  down  on  that  rev- 
erend form  ?  Methinks  I  hear  him  murmur,  "  Oh,  that  1 
were  not  a  publican  and  a  sinner,  for  then  I  might  come 
near  Him  and  be  reckoned  among  His  friends ! "  Jesus 
approaches  the  sycamore  tree.  He  stops ;  He  looks  up ; 
He  speaks :  "  Zaccheus,  make  haste  and  come  down ;  for 
to-day  I  must  abide  at  thy  house."  Zaccheus  can  hardly 
believe  his  own  ears ;  but  he  hastens  down  and  joyfull}^ 
conducts  his  unexpected  but  welcome  Guest  to  his  house. 
There  probably  Jesus  spent  the  night.  The  people  mur- 
mured aloud.  How  little  they  understood  the  heart  of 
Christ  or  the  nature  of  His  mission  !  AVhat  they  regarded 
as  a  reproach,  was  a  true  type  of  His  whole  ministry  on 
earth.  Jesus  came  from  heaven  to  be  the  Guest  of  sin- 
ners. He  passed  by  the  dwellings  of  all  the  priests  and 
Pharisees  of  Jericho,  and  sought  the  hospitality  of  a  man 
held  in  universal  detestation.  So  full  of  pity  was  the  Son 
of  man  towards  the  sinful  and  lost. 

Well,  Jesus  is  at  the  house  of  Zaccheus,  and  while  the 
Pharisees  are  scowlino;,  and  the  multitude  mutterimr  with- 
out,  great  things  are  going  on  in  that  house.  What  dis- 
course Jesus  had  with  His  host  we  know  not;  but  we 
do  know  that  the  publican  became  a  new  man.  It  was 
the  next  morning,  probabl}^,  that  Zaccheus  stood  up  be- 


596  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

fore  Christ,  and  said  :  "  Lord,  behold  the  half  of  my  goods 
I  give  to  the  poor ;  and  if  I  have  taken  away  anything 
from  any  man  by  false  accusation,  I  restore  him  four-fold." 
This  was  said  wdth  due  deliberation.  He  had  meditated 
the  matter  over  night ;  and  now  he  stood  up  to  give  his 
words  a  solemn  formality.  He  had  determined  to  give 
away  unconditionally  half  of  his  estate,  and  he  offered  the 
legal  four-fold  restitution  to  those  whom  he  had  wronged. 
It  is  evident  from  this,  that  he  had  come  honestly  by  the 
bulk  of  his  property.  He  seems  to  confess,  however, 
that  he  had  in  some  cases  extorted  money  by  false  ac- 
cusation ;  and  he  declared  his  purpose  to  make  ample  sat- 
isfaction to  all  whom  he  had  defrauded.  And  this  was 
the  best  possible  evidence  of  a  true  conversion, — our  Sav- 
iour Himself  being  judge :  "  This  day  is  salvation  come 
to  this  house ;  forasmuch  as  he  also  is  the  son  of  Abraham; 
for  the  Son  of  man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which 
w^as  lost."  Zaccheus  was  beloved  for  the  fathers'  sake. 
He  was  a  son  of  Abraham  and  an  heir  of  the  promise : 
"  I  Avill  be  a  God  to  thee  and  thy  seed  after  thee."  That 
covenant  was  a  rainbow  that  overarched  all  generations. 
When  Jesus  came  in  the  flesh,  "  He  took  upon  Him  the 
seed  of  Abraham;"  and  the  whole  tenor  of  His  hfe  showed 
His  special  regard  to  the  chosen  race.  He  was  sent  to 
the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.  To  them  must  the 
gospel  first  be  preached,  unbelieving  and  obstinate  though 
they  were ;  they  still  bore  the  seal  of  the  covenant,  and 
were  therefore  entitled  to  the  first  ofier  of  salvation. 
They  were  indeed  lost,  but  they  were  GocVs  lost,  and  for- 
ever dear  to  Him.  In  Zaccheus  the  Jew  had  been  over- 
looked in  the  publican ;  the  heir  of  the  covenant  in  the 
agent  of  Roman  despotism.  Jesus  recognized  in  him  a 
lost  child  of  Abraham  and  of  God. 

Here  is  disclosed  a  perpetual  law  of  the  kingdom  of 
Go'l.     The  children  of  believers,  the  heirs  of  the  covenant, 


THE  LAST  JOURNEY  :  CONVERSION  OF  ZACCUEUS.  597 

may  indeed  renounce  their  birthright  and  peri^^h  tluough 
unbelief;  but  the  general  order  of  Christ's  kingdom  is  not 
so.  The  history  of  true  religion  in  the  world  is  largely  a 
family  history.  The  taint  of  depravity  is  indeed  transmit- 
ted to  all,  but  the  children  of  the  covenant  are  in  a  special 
sense  heirs  of  salvation;  they  can  only  be  disinherited  "by 
their  own  incorrigible  unbelief  "  The  mercy  of  the  Lord 
is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  upon  them  that  fear 
Him,  and  His  righteousness  unto  children's  children ;  to 
such  as  keep  His  covenant,  and  to  those  who  remember 
His  commandments  to  do  them." 

Jesus  now  took  His  leave  of  Zaccheus  and  set  His  face 
towards  Jerusalem.  The  disciples,  exalted  by  all  they 
had  w^itnessed  at  Jericho,  to  a  high  pitch  of  enthusiam, 
thought  that  the  kingdom  of  God  would  immediately  ajD- 
pear.  It  would  seem  that  the  parable  of  the  Pounds  was 
spoken  in  the  way  soon  after  thc}^  set  out  on  their  toil- 
some walk  to  Bethany.  "  There  were  three  points  on 
"which  He  especially  sought  to  fix  their  attention,  namely, 
the  opposition  He  was  to  encounter  at  Jerusalem ;  His 
departure  from  them  and  return  at  a  later  period  to  sub- 
due His  foes  and  establish  His  kingdom  in  triumph ;  and, 
finally,  their  dutj^  to  labor  actively  in  the  interval,  and 
not  to  await  in  indolence,  the  achievement  of  victory  by 
other  means  without  their  cooperation."  * 

"A  certain  nobleman  went  into  a  far  country,  to  re- 
ceive for  himself  a  kingdom  and  to  return.  And  he 
called  his  ten  servants  and  delivered  them  ten  pounds, 
and  said  unto  them.  Occupy  till  I  come.  But  his  citizens 
hated  him,  and  sent  a  message  after  him,  saying,  we  will 
not  have  this  man  to  reign  over  us.  And  it  came  to  pass, 
that  when  he  was  returned,  having  received  the  kingdom, 
then  he  commanded  those  servants  to  be  called  unto  him 

*Neander's  "Life  of  Christ,"  page  348. 


598  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

to  whom  he  had  given  the  money,  that  he  might  know 
how  much  every  one  had  gained  by  trading.  Then  came 
the  first,  saying,  Lord,  thy  pound  hath  gained  ten  pounds. 
And  he  saith  unto  him.  Well,  thou  good  servant ;  because 
thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  very  little,  have  thou  au- 
thority over  ten  cities.  And  the  second  came,  saying. 
Lord,  thy  pound  hath  gained  five  pounds.  And  he  said 
likewise  to  him,  Be  thou,  also  over  five  cities.  And  an- 
other came,  saying.  Lord,  behold  here  is  thy  pound,  which 
I  have  kept  laid  up  in  a  napkin  ;  for  I  feared  thee  because 
thou  art  an  austere  man  ;  thou  takest  up  that  thou  layedst 
not  down,  and  reapest  that  thou  didst  not  sow.  And  he 
saith  unto  him,  Out  of  thine  own  mouth  will  I  judge 
thee,  thou  wicked  servant.  Thou  knewest  that  I  was  an 
austere  man,  taking  up  that  I  laid  not  down  and  reap- 
ing that  I  did  not  sow  !  Wherefore  then  gavest  thou  not 
my  money  into  the  bank,  that,  at  my  coming,  I  might 
have  required  mine  own  with  usury  ?  And  he  said  unto 
them  that  stood  by.  Take  from  him  the  pound,  and  give 
it  to  him  that  hath  ten  pounds.  (And  they  said  unto 
him.  Lord,  he  hath  ten  pounds!)  For  I  say  unto  you, 
That  unto  every  one  that  hath  shall  be  given;  and  from 
li hn  that  hath  not,  even  that  he  hath  shall  be  taken  away 
from  him.  But  those  mine  enemies,  which  would  not 
that  I  should  reijxn  over  them,  brino;  them  hither,  and 
slay  them  before  me." 

Having  spoken  this  parable,  Jesus  led  the  disciples  up 
the  steep,  desert  road  towards  Jerusalem. 


PART    IX. 


Passion  "Week. 


IT^SP?^ 


CHAPTER    I. 

MAKY  ANOINTS  JESUS   AT  THE  HOUSE  OF  SIMON. 

JOURNEY  OF  JEStJS  FROM  JERICHO  TO  JERUSALEM — FEAST  AT  THE  HOUSE 
OF  SIMON  THE  LEPER — MARY  ANOINTS  HER  LORD — INDIGNATION  OF 
THE  DISCIPLES — JESUS  JUSTIFIES  HER — SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  ANOINT- 
ING. 

Mark  xiv.  a-9.    John  xu.  1-9. 

There  Is  no  more  sterile  or  desolate  region  in  the  Holy 
Land  than  that  between  Jericho  and  Jerusalem ;  it  must 
always  have  presented  the  same  dreary  aspect  as  now; 
for  it  is  utterly  incapable  of  cultivation.  Through  this 
region,  a  steep,  rocky  path  leads  to  the  latter  city,  the 
ascent  being  for  some  fifteen  miles,  singularly  toilsome 
and  exhausting.  Up  this  mountain  road  Jesus  with  His 
disciples  is  now  slowly  toiling,  cheered  by  occasional 
glimpses  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  in  the  distance,  and  of 
a  village,  a  little  below,  embowered  in  j)alm-trees,  olive 
orchards,  and  pomegranates.  To  this  village,  looking 
even  now,  from  a  distance,  "  the  perfection  of  retirement 
and  repose,"*  the  w^ay-worn  and  dusty  company  looked 
forward  with  hope  and  longing ;  it  was  Bethaxy,  the 
village  of  Martha  and  Mary,  and  Lazarus.  At  length,  as 
is  conjectured,  on  a  Friday  evening,  Je^us  reached  the 
hospitable  dwelling  where  He  had  spent  so  many  hours  in 
the  society  of  those  He  loved ;  and  who  can  doubt  that 
He  was  received  with  demonstrations  of  reverence  and 

*Bonar,  139,  230,  310,  337. 


602  TUE    LIFE    OF    CUKIST. 

joy  ?  How  wistfully,  a  few  weeks  before,  had  the  two  sis- 
ters looked  down  that  gloomy  road  to  the  Jordan,  watch- 
ing for  His  coming  ?  Then  they  were  in  deep  ailliction ; 
for  Lazarus  was  sick  unto  death.  With  what  different 
emotions  do  they  now  welcome  their  Friend  and  Bene-' 
factor  to  their  ever  grateful  home ! 

The  next  day  the  disciples  at  Bethany  made  our  Lord 
a  supper  at  the  house  of  one  Simon  the  leper, — a  man 
who  had  probably  been  cleansed  by  Jesus  of  that  horri- 
ble disease,  so  much  dreaded  in  the  East  even  to  this  day. 
How  he  was  related  to  the  family  of  Lazarus — whether 
he  was  as  one  ancient  tradition  says,  his  father;  or  accord- 
ing to  another,  the  husband  of  Martha ;  or  whether  he 
was  only  an  intimate  friend — is  unknown.  At  his  house, 
however,  the  feast  was  spread,  and  Martha  was  among 
them  that  served.*  As  a  friend  and  neighbor,  if  not  as 
hostess,  she  lent  her  skillful  and  energetic  assistance  in 
waiting  on  the  guests,  and  she  was  not  now  in  the  mood 
to  complain  of  her  younger  sister  for  lack  of  cooperation. 
Much  serving  there  is  to  be  done,  but  it  does  not  appear 
that  Martha  is  any  longer  "  cumbered  "  with  it.  In  her 
own  way  she  acceptably  expresses  her  affection  to  her 
adored  Master.  Lazarus  sat  at  the  feast,  an  honored 
guest,  but  silent  He  had  known  the  dread  secrets  of 
hades  by  actual  experience  ;  but  he  held  his  peace  : 

"  Behold  a  man  raised  up  by  Christ ; 
The  rest  remaineth  unrevealed  ; 
He  told  it  not :  or  somcthinff  sealed 
The  lips  of  that  evangelist." 

It  is  very  touching  to  think  of  Lazarus  as  sitting  silent 
at  that  supper,  with  unutterable  memories  in  his  eyes. 

*  "It  is  very  common  in  the  East,  that  a  person  who  is  attached  to  you  by 
a  bond  of  affection  or  of  domesticity  should  go  to  servo  you  when  you  go  out 
to  dine."     (Renan,  Life  of  Jesus,  page  314,  note.) 


THE    ANOINTiXG    OF   JESUS.  C03 

Perhaps  the  secrets  of  the  spiritual  world  can  not  be  told 
in  mortal  speech. 

There  is  another  figure  at  this  banquet,  equally  silent, 
but  invested  with  a  glory  which  can  never  grow  dim.  It 
is  Mary,  the  sister  of  Lazarus.  I  picture  her  to  myself  as 
gazing  alternately  on  her  beloved  brother  and  on  Ilim 
whose  voice  had  called  him  from  the  tomb.  Heaven 
broods  upon  her  face.  Her  eyes  are  "homes  of  silent 
prayer."  She  gazes  with  infinite  adoration  on  the  form 
of  the  Saviour,  who  is  to  her  "  God  manifest  in  the  iBesh." 
Her  dumb  love,  swelling  like  ocean  tides  till  it  overflows 
her  wdiole  being,  struggles  for  expression.  Guided  by  a 
prophetic  instinct,  she  takes  an  alabaster  vase  of  genuine 
spikenard, — a  most  precious  ointment,  used  only  by  the 
rich,  and  by  them  only  on  extraordinary  festive  occasions. 
She  first  anoints  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  then  wringing  off 
the  neck  of  the  vase  she  pours  its  contents  on  His  head. 
Then  prostrating  herself  before  Him  in  an  ecstasy  of  wor- 
ship, she  wipes  His  feet  with  her  hair.  The  fragrance  of 
the  ointment  filled  the  whole  room. 

While  Mary  w^as  thus  engaged  there  were  those  wlio 
looked  on  with  no  friendly  eyes.  Among  the  apostles 
themselves  was  one  of  a  sordid,  avaricious  spirit,  who  had 
never  had  a  glimpse  of  the  true  glory  of  Christ,  or  of  the 
nature  of  His  kingdom.  This  was  Judas  Iscariot.  On 
account  of  his  skill  in  worldly  affairs  he  had  been  made 
the  steward  and  treasurer  of  the  little  community,  and 
carried  the  purse.  He  was  already  more  than  suspected 
of  having  embezzled  the  funds  entrusted  to  his  keeping ; 
for  the  ruling  passion  of  his  heart  was  the  love  of  money. 
He  had  therefore  fallen  in  the  day  of  temptation ;  but  up 
to  this  time,  so  consummate  had  been  his  hypocrisy,  that 
he  had  enjoyed  the  full  confidence  of  most  of  his  fellow- 
disciples,  who  probably  regarded  him  as  a  man  of  pru- 
dence as  well  as  piety.     This  man  beheld  the  anointing 


604  THE  LIFE  OF  cnrvisT, 

by  Maiy,  with  contracted  brows.  "  Whj^/'  he  muttered, 
"  was  not  this  ointment  sold  for  three  hundred  pence,  and 
given  to  the  poor?"  The  other  disciples  at  once  began 
to  say  among  themselves,  "  Why  was  this  waste  of  the 
ointment  made  ?  for  it  might  have  been  sold  for  more 
than  three  hundred  pence,  and  have  been  given  to  tl\e 
poor."  In  fact  the  estimate  of  Judas  was  low.  The  box 
of  ointment,  weighing  a  pound,  must  have  cost  more  than 
fifty  dollars  according  to  our  reckoning.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed that,  viewing  the  affair  as  a  mere  matter  of  econ- 
omy, Judas  had  some  show  of  reason  on  his  side.  As- 
suming that  Mary  was  rich, — and  this,  though  possible,  is 
scarcely  probable, — does  not  her  generosity  seem  extrav- 
aorant?  How  much  mierht  have  been  done  with  three 
hundred  pence  ?  And  then  what  good  loas  done  by  the 
anointing  ?  Would  not  the  majority  of  modern  Chris- 
tians reason  in  the  same  way  ?  Is  there  anything  more 
shocking  to  them  than  the  waste  of  money  ?  Let  us  not 
judge  the  disciples  too  harshly  for  the  censure  wdiich 
they  pronounced  on  Mary  at  the  instigation  of  Judas. 
He  indeed  was  only  enraged  because  the  value  of  the 
ointment  had  not  come  into  his  bao; ;  but  his  cunnino; 
suggestion  that  the  poor  were  robbed  by  Mary's  extrava- 
gance, struck  them  as  reasonable. 

Poor  Mary !  What  must  have  been  her  emotions 'when 
she  heard  these  comments  on  an  act  which  she  must  have 
presumed^  would,  at  such  a  moment,  be  understood  by  all 
the  disciples.  She  had  not  once  thought  of  expense  ;  -she 
had  scarcely  thourjlit  at  all ;  what  she  had  done  was  in  a 
rapture  of  holy  love  ;  and  now  to  be  told  that  she  had 
been  guilty  of  sinful  extravagance  and  of  indifference 
to  the  wants  of  the  poor, —  this  sorely  perplexed  and 
troubled  her.  But  be  of  good  cheer,  Mary ;  though  the 
servants  can  not  understand  you,  the  Master  can  and  does. 
"  When  Jesus  understood  it,  He  said   unto  them,  Why 


THE    ANOINTING    OF   JESUS.  G05 

trouble  ye  the  woman  ?  for  she  hath  wrought  a  good  work 
upon  me.  For  ye  have  the  poor  always  with  you;  but 
Me  ye  have  not  always.  For  in  that  she  hath  poured  tliis 
ointment  on  my  body,  she  did  it  for  my  burial.  Verily  I 
say  unto  you,  Y/heresoever  this  gospel  shall  be  preached 
in  the  whole  world,  there  shall  also  this,  that  this  woman 
hath  done,  be  told  for  a  memorial  of  her." 

The  prediction  with  which  this  eulogy  closes  is  very 
extraordinary.  It  shows  an  absolute  assurance  in  the 
mind  of  Jesus,  not  only  that  His  religion  would  become 
universal,  but  that  the  minute  incidents  of  His  earthly 
life, — and  this  especially,  would  he  preserved  in  icritten 
records  ;  for  in  no  other  conceivable  way  could  the  fact 
be  everywhere  preserved  and  known.*  Such  an  assur- 
ance, so  boldly  uttered,  goes  flir  towards  proving  His 
divine  character  and  mission.  The  fulfillment  of  the 
promise  is  sufficiently  apparent.  This  present  history 
tells  over  again,  in  this  western  world,  the  story  which 
has  been  told  a  thousand  times  before,  and  which  will  be 
told  to  successive  generations  till  the  end  of  time.  PiC- 
nan  omits  much,  almost  everything  essential  in  the  life 
of  Jesus ;  but  he  was  not  permitted  to  omit  this.f 

Coming  now  to  examine  the  grounds  of  this  eulogy, — 
which  is  quite  unparalleled  among  those  which  fell  from 
the  lips  of  our  Lord, — it  is  obvious  that  Mary's  act  must 
be  judged  of  in  the  light  of  her  general  character.  Had 
the  same  thing  been  done  by  another  person,  in  a  sj^irit 
of  ostentation,  or  for  some  selfish  end,  it  would  doubtless 
have  been  pronounced  by  Christ  wholly  sinful  and  un- 
lovely. In  Mary  it  was  transcendently  beautiful.  It  was 
the  spontaneous  act  of  adoring  love.  Now  Christ  re- 
garded love  to  Himself — which  was  indeed  but  love  to 
perfect  goodness  and  absolute  truth — as  the  one  supreme 

*Alforcl  on  Matthew  xxvi.  13       f  "  Life  of  Jesus,"  pages  313-315. 


606  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

virtue  wliicli  reduced  all  faults  coexisting  with  it  to  zero. 
No  matter  how  defective  according  to  an  exact  legal 
standard  a  character  might  be,  if  marked  by  the  pre- 
dominance of  this  one  element,  He  regarded  it  as  just 
and  good.  In  such  a  character  He  would  see  no  sin — 
mark  no  fault.  Mary  may  have  had  many  defects,  though 
she  seems  to  have  been  singularly  pure  ;  but  her  love  to 
Christ  was  probably  unrivalled ;  it  Avas  a  love  too  large,  too 
adoring  for  words.  Could  she  have  expressed  it  in  song, 
we  should  have  had  such  a  hymn  as  mortals  never  heard. 
But  her  affection  was  dumb :  so  she  seized  the  alabaster 
vase,  broke  it,  and  poured  the  precious  nard  over  the  head 
and  the  feet  of  Him,  who  in  her  eyes  was  the  "Bright- 
ness of  the  Father's  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  His 
Person."  That  was  her  hymn.  Her  love  was  like  the 
ointment  poured  forth,  rich,  fragrant,  j^recious.  Love  like 
Mary's  makes  its  own  law.  It  sometimes  sets  at  nought 
the  maxims  of  worldly  prudence,  and  disregards  temporal 
utilities;  bat  whatever  it  does  is  good  and  lovely.  It 
gives  what  it  has  at  hand  most  precious;  it  gives  all, 
expecting  no  reward,  and  satisfied  only  with  the  full  ex- 
pression of  its  own  divine  intensity.  If  the  perfume  had 
been  worth  thirty  thousand  pence  instead  of  three  hun- 
dred, Mary  would  have  poured  it  out  on  the  head  of  the 
Kedeemer,  and  her  love  would  have  justified  the  deed. 
None  the  less  would  it  have  been  precious  in  the  eyes  of 
Christ,  had  it  been  worth  but  a  penny.  Still  He  would 
have  pronounced  it  a  "good  work;"  still  He  would  have 
commended  her,  saying, "  She  hath  done  what  she  could." 
Mary's  exceeding  love  to  Christ,  inward  and  spiritual 
as  it  was,  drew  her  nearer  to  Him  in  sympathy  than  most 
of  the  disciples.  She  understood  the  mission  of  Christ 
better  than  the  apostles  themselves :  for  while  they  were 
incapable,  even  to  the  last,  of  perceiving  the  necessity  of 
His  sufferings,  she  knew  it  so  perfectly  that  she  anointed 


THE    ANOINTING   OF   JESUS.  607 

Him  beforehand  for  His  burial.  She  understood  the  sijr- 
nificance  of  her  own  act.  She  felt  the  divine  sorrow  which 
He  carried  in  His  heart ;  she  remembered  what  He  had 
so  often  said  touching  His  passion  and  death.  She  knew 
that  His  hour  was  at  hand ;  that  she  was  in  truth  anoint- 
ing that  holy  body  for  the  sepulchre.  It  was  an  act  of 
surpassing  love,  of  speechless  sorrow,  and  not  less  of  calm, 
prophetic,  victorious  faith.  While  she  anointed  Him  for 
the  tomb,  she  did  homage  to  Him  as  her  King,  and  joy- 
fully anticipated  His  resurrection  and  glory.  May  we  not 
reverently  presume  that  the  human  heart  of  Jesus  found 
consolation,  during  that  awful  week,  in  the  knowledge 
that  one  other  human  heart  felt  the  burden  that  was 
crushing  His  ?  And  if  the  anointing  was  a  token  of  this 
profound  sympathy,  is  it  wonderful  that  His  undying 
praise  immortalized  the  deed  ? 


CHAPTER    II. 
THE   TRIUMPHAL   ENTRY   OF   CHRIST    INTO   JERUSALEM. 

ENTHUSIASM     OF    THE     PEOPLE — ROUTE    OF     THE     PROCESSION — PROGRESS 
FROM  BETHANY  DESCRIBED — CHRIST  WEEPS  OVER  JERUSALEM — ENTERS 

THE  TEMPLE — RETURNS  TO  BETHANY — THE  BARREN  FIG-TREE  CURSED 

SECOND    PURIFICATION    OF    THE    TEMPLE. 

Matthew  xxi.  1-19.    Mark  xi.  1-19.    Luke  xix.  24-44.    John  xii.  12-19. 

When  Jesus  and  His  apostles  turned  aside  on  Friday, 
to  spend  the  Sabbath  with  their  friends  in  Bethany,  the 
multitude  who  came  up  with  them  from  Jericho  went  on 
to  Jerusalem,  which  was  only  a  half-hour  distant.  They 
carried  the  tidings  to  the  city,  already  full  of  pilgrims, 
that  Jesus  had  come  up  to  attend  the  Passover,  and  that 
Lazarus,  who  had  probably  accompanied  his  Master  to  His 
retreat  in  Ephraim,  had  returned  with  Him.  The  news 
flew  through  the  city  and  created  in  all  classes  intense 
excitement.  The  disciples  were  filled  with  joy  and  hope ; 
for  they  expected  the  immediate  coming  of  the  king- 
dom of  God.  The  priests  and  Pharisees, — all  the  enemies 
of  Christ, — exulted,  not  without  fear  and  misgiving ;  for 
though  they  were  glad  to  have  Him  once  more  within 
their  reach,  and  were  resolved  that  He  should  not  again 
escape  them,  they  felt  that  they  had  reason  to  apprehend 
a  popular  uprising  in  His  favor.  His  miracles,  and  espe- 
cially the  raising  of  Lazarus,  the  reality  of  which  they 
could  not  deny,  had  convinced  many  of  His  divine  mission, 


THE    TRIUMPHAL    ENTRY.  009 

and  had  kindled  an  almost  national  enthusiasm.  It  hud 
indeed  become  a  question  whether  Lazarus  himself  must 
not  also  be  put  out  of  the  way.  Probablj^  much  of  the 
Sabbath  was  spent  by  the  leading  conspirators  in  anxious 
consultation.  The  strangers  in  the  city  heard  with  startled 
interest  of  the  words  and  works  of  the  Galilean  Prophet, 
and  many  of  them  earnestly  desired  to  see  Ilim.  The 
majority  of  the  people  .were  probably  without  auy  defi- 
nite convictions,  and  were  ready  to  yield  themselves  to 
any  strong  popular  movement.  The  Roman  authorities 
were,  as  usual,  vigilant,  but  calm,  and  not  predisposed  to 
attach  great  importance  to  religious  excitements  among 
the  Jews.  They  were  indeed  beginning  to  hold  all  re- 
ligions in  equal  contempt. 

Many  of  the  Jews,  when  they  heard  that  Jesus  and  Laza- 
rus were  in  Bethany,  went  out  to  see  them,  some  of  the 
less  rigid  perhaps  on  the  morning  of  the  Sabbath ;  others 
at  sunset.  However  this  may  be,  Jesus  seems  to  have 
spent  that  day  in  peaceful  seclusion  with  the  beloved 
family  of  Martha.  He  well  knew  wdiat  was  before  Him 
during  that  awful  week.  The  time  was  come  for  Him  to 
manifest  Himself  to  His  people  as  the  promised  King  of 
Israel.  His  next  entry  into  Jerusalem  was  to  be  with  a 
pomp  and  majesty  befitting  His  character  and  the  nature 
of  His  kino-dom.  The  manner  and  circumstances  of  this 
entry,  though  they  came  about  naturally,  none  the  less 
entered  into  the  plan  of  Christ,  and  were  ordered  by  the 
providence  of  God.  He  who  knew  what  was  in  man  fore- 
saw that  the  enthusiam  of  the  multitude  would  spontane- 
ously offer  Him  an  ovation  on  the  morrow, — an  ovation 
that  should  fulfill  the  prophetic  sign  of  His  Messianic  char- 
acter. Zechariah  had  said,  "  Rejoice  greatly,  0  daughter 
of  Zion ;  shout,  0  daughter  of  Jerusalem ;  behold,  tliy 
King  Cometh  unto  thee;  He  is  just  and  having  salvation; 
lowlv  and  riding  upon  an  ass,  and  upon  a  colt,  the  foal  of 
39 


610  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

an  ass."*  Tlie  attempts  of  several  well-meaning  v/riters 
to  show  that  Jesus  fulfilled  this  prophecy  half-uncon- 
sciously,  are  ill-judged  and  unnecessary.  It  seems  clear 
that  our  Lord  intended  on  this  occasion  to  proclaim  Him- 
self, in  the  most  public  manner  possible,  the  very  King 
spoken  of  by  the  prophet.  His  own  part  in  the  proces- 
sion, therefore,  was  predetermined,  Whether  one  of  His 
friends  in  the  neighboring  village  of  Bethphage  had  been 
directed  to  provide  the  ass  on  which  the  Lord  was  to  ride 
into  the  Holy  City,  is  not  certain ;  but  the  language  of  the 
inspired  narrative  leads  us  rather  to  the  conviction  that 
no  such  arrangement  had  been  made.  The  ass  was  provi- 
dentially ready  at  the  time  when  the  "  Lord  had  need  of 
him."  There  is  no  miracle  in  the  case,  unless  our  Lord's 
knowledge  be  called  miraculous.  The  entry  probably  did 
not  take  place  till  the  afternoon  of  the  day  following  the 
Sabbath — that  is  to  say,  on  Sunday  of  Passion  Week — 
just  one  week  before  His  resurrection. 

"  Three  pathways  lead, — and  probably  always  led,— 
from  Bethany  to  Jerusalem ;  one,  a  steep  footpath  over 
the  summit  of  Mount  Olivet ;  another,  by  a  long  circuit 
over  its  northern  shoulder,  down  the  valley  wdiich  parts 
it  from  Scopas ;  the  third,  the  natural  continuation  of  the 
road  by  which  the  mounted  travelers  always  approach 
the  city  from  Jericho,  over  the  southern  shoulder,  between 
the  summit  which  contains  the  Tombs  of  the  Prophets, 
and  that  called  the  Mount  of  Offence.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  this  last  is  the  road  of  the  Entry  of  Christ, 
not  only  because,  as  just  stated,  it  is  and  must  always 
have  been  the  usual  approach  for  horsemen,  and  for  large 
caravans,  but  also  because  this  is  the  only  one  of  the 
three  approaches  which  meets  the  requirements  of  the 
narrative  which  follows.     This  road  soon  loses  sight  of 

*Zechanah  ix.  9. 


THE    TRIUMPHAL    ENTKY.  Cll 

Bethany.  It  is  now  a  rough  but  still  broad  and  well- 
defined  mountain  track,  winding  over  rock  and  loose 
stones,  a  steep  declivity  below,  on  the  left ;  the  sloping 
shoulder  of  Olivet  above  it  on  the  right ;  fig-trees  below 
and  above,  here  and  there  growing  out  of  the  rocky  soil."* 
Midway  is  an  angle  in  the  road,  where  a  portion  of  the 
city  first  breaks  on  the  view ;  thence  the  descent  is  steep 
and  almost  continuous  to  the  valley  of  the  Kedron. 

Let  us  ascend  the  Mount  of  Olives  above  this  angle  to 
a  point  which  commands  a  view  of  the  whole  winding 
road  from  Bethany  to  Jerusalem.  Here  we  will  take  our 
stand  and  observe  the  events  of  the  day.  It  is  a  little 
past  noon.  A  hum  from  the  city,  as  from  a  vast  hive, 
just  reaches  our  ears.  We  see  its  streets  crowded  with  a 
motley  multitude,  looking  at  this  distance  like  swarming 
bees.  Caravans  of  pilgrims,  some  on  horses,  some  on 
camels,  many  on  foot,  are  passing  through  the  gates. 
The  hills  around  the  city  are  thickly  dotted  with  tents 
and  booths ;  indeed,  the  extra-mural  population  seems  to 
exceed  that  within  the  walls.  Looking  down  into  the 
deep  valley  of  the  Kedron,  we  are  struck  with  an  unusual 
movement  of  the  multitude.  A  steady  stream  is  flowing 
from  the  city  into  the  gardens  and  groves  at  the  foot  of 
Olivet.  Anon,  men  climb  the  palm-trees  and  cut  down  the 
green,  feathery  branches.  The  people  below  seize  them 
as  they  fall,  and  bearing  them  aloft  as  banners,  take  the 
road  to  Bethany.  They  are  evidently  animated  with  a 
common  purpose.  Men,  women  and  children,  commingled 
in  the  glad  procession,  sweep  up  the  rocky  pathway. 

Glancing  now  in  the  opposite  direction  we  see  the  vil- 
lage of  Bethany  all  alive.  The  house  of  Martha  seems 
to  be  the  center  of  a  mighty  mass  of  human  beings.  At 
length  Jesus,  followed  by  His  apostles  and  personal  friends, 

*  Stanley's  Palestiue,  pages  187,  188. 


612  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

Lazarus  and  Mary  doubtless  near  Him,  issues  from  the 
house  and  the  multitude  receive  Him  with  reverent  ac- 
clamations. The  procession  begins  to  move,  while  the 
people  throng  around  the  Saviour,  many  doubtless  to 
thank  Him  for  having  cured  them  of  grievous  diseases. 
Men  who  had  once  been  blind  but  now  saw ;  lepers  who 
had  been  cleansed ;  women  who  had  been  possessed  of 
devils,  but  were  now  in  their  right  minds ;  paralytics  who 
now  walked  and  leaped,  praising  God  ; — these  are  there 
to  testify  their  gratitude.  Reaching  the  confines  of  a 
little  village,  not  far  from  Bethany,  Jesus  stops,  and  we 
see  two  disciples  hastily  pass  into  the  village,  till  they 
come  to  a  house  where  an  ass,  with  a  well  grown  foal, 
stands  tied.  They  at  once  begin  to  loose  the  beast,  and; 
after  a  moment's  conference  with  the  owners,  lead  it  away 
to  the  j)lace  where  Jesus  stands.  Having  spread  their 
garments  as  housings  on  the  unbroken  colt,  they  set 
Jesus  thereon,  and  the  procession  again  moves  forward. 
The  people,  still  thronging  up  the  winding  path  from  the 
city,  meet  the  descending  multitude  ;  they  greet  the  Sav- 
iour with  shouts,  cast  down  their  palm  branches  in  the 
way,  even  pluck  off  their  cloaks  and  spread  them  upon 
the  stones  and  dust;  and  so  turning  towards  the  city, 
some  going  before  and  others  following,  they  move  for- 
ward, crying,  "Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David !  Blessed  is 
He  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord !  Blessed  be 
the  kingdom  of  our  fither  David  that  cometh  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord !  Hosanna !  Peace  in  heaven  and 
glory  in  the  highest!"  The  sound  is  like  the  noise  of 
many  waters;  it  rolls  down  the  rocky  ravine,  and  up 
the  mountains,  and  seems  to  rend  the  sky.  There  are 
Pharisees  among  the  crowd,  not  probably  pronounced 
enemies  of  Christ,  who  are  shocked  by  this  ascription 
to  Him  of  Messianic  honors ;  and  thc}^  call  on  Jesus  to 
rebuke  His  disciples.     Li  reply  He  points  to  the  stones 


THE    TRIUMPHAL    ENTRY.  '     613 

and  says:  "If  these  should  hold  their  peace,  the  stones 
would  immediately  cry  out."  Again  the  procession  ad- 
vances, climbing  a  little  ridge  of  Olivet  which  still  veils 
the  city,  till  it  reaches  a  ledge  of  smooth  rock.  In  an 
instant  Jerusalem  bursts  into  view.  The  temple,  the  spa- 
cious courts,  the  magnificent  city  on  its  broken  hills,  with 
its  background  of  gardens  and  suburbs,  stand  out  clear 
and  distinct  in  the  lio:ht  of  the  declining:  sun. 

Here  Jesus  pauses.  Let  us  reverently  raise  our  eyes  to 
the  face  of  the  King  in  this  hour  of  His  triumph,  when 
the  glad  acclamations  of  thousands  are  in  His  ears.  His 
eyes  are  fixed  mournfully  on  the  city,  and  as  He  gazes, 
tears  roll  down  His  cheeks.  Listen :  "  If  thou  hadst 
known,  even  thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things 
which  belong  unto  thy  peace !  but  now  are  they  hid  from 
thine  eyes.  For  the  days  shall  come  upon  thee,  that 
thine  enemies  shall  cast  a  trench  about  thee,  and  com- 
pass thee  round,  and  keep  thee  in  on  every  side,  and 
shall  lay  thee  even  with  the  ground,  and  thy  children 
within  thee ;  and  they  shall  not  leave  in  thee  one  stone 
upon  another ;  because  thou  knewest  not  the  time  of  thy 
visitation."  Having  uttered  this  prophetic  lament,  Jesus 
again  advances,  and  the  multitude  shout  hosannas  as  be- 
fore. The  procession  passes  through  the  ojDen  gate  and 
the  streets  leading  toAvards  the  temple.  The  whole  city 
is  thrown  into  commotion.  Strangers  inquire,  "  Who  is 
this?"  and  the  multitude  reply:  "This  is  Jesus,  the  Prophet 
of  Nazareth  in  Galilee."  At  length  Jesus  enters  the  tem- 
ple courts.  The  King  appears  in  His  palace.  His  first 
acts  disclose  the  nature  of  His  dominion.  The  blind  and 
the  lame  come  to  Him  and  He  heals  them.  These  mira- 
cles call  forth  fresh  outbursts  of  joy  from  the  people. 
Children  take  up  the  strain  and  cry,  "Hosanna  to  the 
Son  of  David!"  The  chief  priests  and  scribes  are  full  of 
wrath,  and  say  to  Him :  "  Hearest  Thou  what  these  say  ? " 


614     ■  THE    LIFE    OF    CHIIIST. 

'•  Yea,"  Jesus  replies ;  "  have  ye  never  read,  Out  of  the 
mouth  of  babes  and  suckhngs  thou  hast  perfected  praise?" 
The  day  being  far  spent,  Jesus  having  surveyed  the  tem- 
ple and  marked  the  many  evidences  of  sacrilegious  dese- 
cration, returns  to  Bethany  for  the  night. 

He  returned  to  Jerusalem  the  next  mornino;,  fastino;. 
Ilis  abstinence  was  surely  voluntarj^,  and  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  shared  by  those  who  were  with  Him.  Jesus, 
however,  huno-ered.  Seeino;  a  fior-tree  standino-  close  to 
the  highway,  covered  with  leaves,  He  looked  to  find  fruit 
concealed  amono-  its  luxuriant  folia":e.  Findino;  on  ex- 
amination  that  it  bore  ''nothing  but  leaves,"  He  said  to 
it,  "  Let  no  fruit  grow  on  thee  hereafter  forever."  While 
the  disciples  looked  upon  it,  it  began  to  wither  and  die. 
This  act  forms  no  exception  among  the  beneficent  mira- 
cles of  Christ.  The  object  of  this  so-called  malediction 
could  feel  no  pain ;  no  wrong  was  done  the  owner,  for  it 
was  barren ;  while  its  death  was  made  to  preach  a  most 
solemn  and  impressive  sermon  to  all  generations,  and 
especially  to  those  then  living.  In  truth  the  judgment 
on  the  fig-tree,  with  its  consequent  withering,  is  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  parable  and  prophecy.  The  Jewish  nation 
was  a  tree  planted  by  God  Himself  in  a  fruitful  soil.  Age 
after  age  it  had  put  forth  leaves  which  promised  abundant 
fruit.  It  professed  the  true  religion ;  it  maintained  the 
worship  of  the  true  God  ;  it  cherished  the  hope  of  a  com- 
ing Messiah ;  it  seemed  full  of  religious  zeal ;  yet  when 
the  Divine  Husbandman  came  seeking  fruit.  He  found 
none.  Therefore  He  doomed  it  to  wither  and  die.  Thus 
the  sentence  pronounced  on  Jerusalem  and  on  the  nation 
the  day  before  is  solemnly  repeated,  and  in  a  form  that 
the  disciples  could  never  forget. 

We  must  not  omit,  in  this  connection,  the  important 
suggestion  of  Noander: — "To  understand  Christ's  act 
aright,  we  must  not  conceive  that  He  at  once  caused  a 


THE    WITHERED    FIG-TEEE.  G15 

sound  tree  to  wither.  This  would  not  be  iii  harmony 
with  the  general  aim  of  His  miracles  ;  nor  would  it  cor- 
respond to  the  idea  which  He  designed  to  set  vividly  be- 
fore the  disciples.  A  sound  tree,  suddenly  destroyed, 
would  certainly  be  no  fitting  type  of  the  Jewish  people. 
We  must  rather  believe  that  the  same  cause  which  made 
the  tree  barren  had  already  prepared  the  way  for  its  de- 
struction, and  that  Christ  only  hastened  a  crisis  which  had 
to  come  in  the  course  of  nature.  In  this  view  it  would 
correspond  precisely  to  the  great  event  in  the  world's  his- 
tory which  it  was  designed  to  prefigure  :  the  moral  char- 
acter of  the  Jewish  nation  had  long  been  fitting  it  for 
destruction  ;  and  the  divine  government  of  the  world  only 
brouQ-ht  on  the  crisis."* 

It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  the  fig-tree  was  cursed  not 
only  for  being  fruitless  but  also  and  especially  for  being 
false.  It  gave  signs  of  a  vigorous  life,  and  promised 
abundant  fruit;  but  all  was  delusive.  It  was,  therefore, 
a  striking  emblem  of  hypocrisy  in  the  individual,  the 
church,  and  the  nation.  "  Nothing  but  leaves  "  is  a  terri- 
ble description  of  "those  who  profess  that  they  know 
God,  but  in  works  deny  Him." 

Our  Lord  lingered  not  at  the  withering  fig-tree ;  His 
work  was  before  Him  ;  this  day  He  was  to  assert  His 
authority  over  the  temple  and  His  zeal  for  the  house  of 
God.  At  the  commencement  of  His  ministry,  He  had 
purified  the  temple  by  driving  out  the  buyers  and  sell- 
ers, the  sheep  and  oxen,  and  by  breaking  up  the  market 
which  had  been  established  m  the  sacred  courts.  This 
was  intended  rather  as  a  testimony  against  the  sacrilege 
than  as  an  efiectual  punishment ;  for  as  soon  as  Jesus  had 
departed  the  practice  seems  to  have  been  resumed.  It 
was  indeed  an  old  abuse  sanctioned  by  the  rulers  of  the 


*Lifc  of  Christ,  page  358. 


CI 6  THE    LIFE    OF    CnPJST. 

temple.  It  was  fitting  that  Jesus,  who  had  a  few  hours 
before  suffered  Himself  to  be  greeted  as  the  Son  of  David 
in  those  very  courts,  should  now  exert  His  royal  power 
and  authority  by  again  purging  the  temple  of  those  who 
profaned  it  with  their  noisy  traffic.  "And  they  come  to 
Jerusalem ;  and  Jesus  went  into  the  temj)le,  and  began  to 
cast  out  them  that  sold  and  bought  in  the  temple,  and 
overthrew  the  tables  of  the  monej'-changers,  and  the 
seats  of  them  that  sold  doves,  and  would  not  suffer  that 
any  man  should  carry  any  vessel  through  the  temple. 
And  He  taught,  saying.  Is  it  not  written.  My  house  shall 
be  called  of  all  nations  the  house  of  j^rayer?  But  ye 
have  made  it  a  den  of  thieves." 

For  a  little  while  Jesus  was  actual  Lord  of  the  temple. 
The  same  outflashing  divinity  which  subdued  His  enemies 
on  the  former  occasion  was  not  wanting;  on  this :  He 
encountered  no  open  resistance ;  even  the  rulers  and 
scribes,  though  they  w^ere  inwardly  enraged,  were  re- 
strained from  opposition  by  the  fear  which  fell  upon 
them,  and  by  the  astonished  enthusiasm  with  which  He 
was  regarded  by  the  people.  That  He  was  to  be  put  to 
death,  however,  they  regarded  as  settled ;  and  they  held 
secret  consultations  touching  the  means  to  be  employed. 
The  history  of  the  next  few  days  will  disclose  their  subtle 
policy  as  well  as  their  malignant  hatred,  ^t  was  an  essen- 
tial part  of  their  scheme  to  bring  our  Lord  into  discredit 
with  the  multitude ;  and  to  this  end  they  resolved  to  ply 
Him  with  questions  which,  as  they  hoped.  He  would  not 
be  able  to  answer  without  alienating  from  Himself  all 
classes  of  the  people.  Thus  they  sought  to  array  against 
Him  all  sects  and  parties.  This  should  be  borne  in  mind 
by  the  reader  of  the  following  pages. 


CHAPTER    III. 
CHRIST   AND   THE  PHARISEES. 

THE  POWER  OF  BELIEVING  PRAYER — CONVERSATION  WITH  THE  PHARISEES, 
SCRIBES  AND  CHIEF  PRIESTS — PARABLE  OF  THE  TAVO  SONS — PARABLE 
OF    THE    WICKED   HUSBANDMEN — PARABLE    OF    THE    MARRIAGE    FEAST. 

Mark  xi.  20-33;  xii.  1-13.    BIatthew  xxi.  20-46.    Luke  xs.  1-18. 

Jesus  again  spent  the  night  in  Bethany,  and  returning 
the  next  morning  by  the  same  pathway  to  Jerusalem, 
the  disciples  observed  with  wonder  that  the  fig-tree  was 
withered  and  dead.  When  they  called  the  attention  of 
our  Lord  to  the  fact.  He  said  to  them :  "  Have  faith  in 
God.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you.  That  whosoever  shall 
say  unto  this  mountain,  Be  thou  removed,  and  bo  tjiou 
cast  into  the  sea,  and  shall  not  doubt  in  his  heart,  but 
shall  believe  that  those  things  which  he  saith  shall  come 
to  pass,  he  shall  have  whatsoever  he  saith.  Therefore  I 
say  unto  you.  What  things  soever  ye  desire  when  ye 
pray,  believe  that  ye  receive  them,  and  ye  shall  have 
them.  And  when  ye  stand  praying,  forgive  if  ye  have 
aught  against  any ;  that  your  Father  also  which  is  in 
heaven  may  forgive  you  your  trespasses.  But  if  ye  do 
not  forgive,  neither  will  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven 
forgive  you  your  trespasses." 

No  more  pregnant  utterance  ever  fell  from  the  lips  of 
Jesus.  It  sets  forth  with  extraordinary  clearness  the 
divine  philosophy  of  miracles.  They  are  only  possible 
when  the  human  will  is  joined  by  perfect  trust  to  the 


C18  THE    LIFE    OF    CHFJST. 

will  of  God  It  was  thus  that  Jesus  wrought  Himself  His 
mightiest  miracles.  While  He  commanded  He  prayed, 
as  when  He  said,  ''  Father,  I  know  that  thou  hearest  me 
always,"  and  then  cried,  "Lazarus,  come  forth."  The 
fiith  which  removes  mountains  dwelt  first  in  Jesus,  and 
brought  His  human  will  into  living  conjunction  with  that 
Will  which  is  essential  omnipotence.  Through  the  same 
faith  His  church  was  to  acquire  unlimited  control  over  the 
forces  of  nature.  This  endowment  belongs  even  now  to 
the  people  of  God,  though  they  will  only  be  fully  con- 
scious of  it  when  regenerate  man  shall  tread  the  "new 
earth,"  the  crowned  king  of  "  the  world  to  come."  Then 
shall  new  and  wondrous  meaning  be  disclosed  in  the  pro- 
phetic language  of  the  eighth  psalm  :  "  Thou  madest  him 
to  have  dominion  over  the  works  of  Thy  hands ;  Thou 
hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet;  all  sheep  and  oxen, 
yea,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field,  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and 
the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  whatsoever  passeth  through  the 
paths  of  the  sea."  The  "powers  of  that  world  to  come" 
were  wielded  at  will  by  the  Second  Adam,  and  they  were 
imparted  by  Him  to  "  the  church  which  is  His  body,  the 
fulness  of  .Him  that  filleth  all  in  all,"  but  those  powers 
can  not  be  arbitrarily  employed  at  the  caprice  of  indi- 
vidual believers.  They  are  a  sacred  deposit  to  be  drawn 
upon,  in  obedience  to  the  immediate  promptings  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  for  the  advancement  and  glory  of  the  king- 
dom of  God. 

Jesus  taught  His  disciples  that  in  order  to  keep  them- 
selves in  communication  with  the  source  of  all  supernatu- 
ral powers,  they  must  "  have  "  habitual,  abiding  faith  in 
God ;  and  as  "  prayer  is  the  utterance  of  faith,  and  faith 
the  soul  of  prayer,"  He  speaks  of  them  as  inseparable. 
As  prevailing  prayer  must  be  without  wrath  as  well  as 
doubting,  He  reminds  the  disciples  of  what  Ho  had  for- 
merly said  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  that  they  could 


CHRIST   AJhD   the   PIIAKISEES.  CTj 

only  pray  effectually  when  they  prayed  in  a  spirit  of  love 
towards  their  fellow-men.  It  would  seem  that  there  can 
not  but  be  doubting  in  the  heart  of  him  who  is  angry 
and  unforgiving.  '•  Therefore,"  says  the  Saviour,  "  when 
ye  stand  praying,  forgive  if  ye  have  aught  against  any." 
It  is  probable  that  when  these  words  were  spoken  Jesus 
was  near  the  city.  When  He  said,  "  ye  shall  si\y  to  this 
mountain,  be  thou  removed,"  He  doubtless  pointed  to 
Mount  Moriah  on  which  stood  the  temple.  The  removal 
of  that  mountain  would  be  in  effect  the  overthrow  of  the 
Jewish  Theocracy ;  the  vanishing  away  of  that  dispensa- 
tion. We  can  not  but  think  that  the  saying  has  tliis  far- 
reaching  meaning.  Jesus  intended  to  assure  His  disci- 
ples that  all  obstacles  should  disappear  before  the  M'ord 
of  faith,  even  false  religions,  apostate  churches,  powerful 
hierarchies,  and  hostile  governments.* 

Having  uttered  these  memorable  sayings,  our  Lord 
passed  into  the  temple.  Hardly  had  He  entered  when 
the  chief  jDriests,  elders,  and  scribes,  approached  Him  in 
a  body,  and  said,  "By  what  authority  doest  Thou  these 
things  ?  and  who  gave  Thee  this  authority  ?  "  They  had 
evidently  been  in  consultation,  and  in  pursuance  of  their 
plan  to  draw  from  Him  some  declaration  which  would  at 
once  alienate  the  people  and  offer  ground  for  a  formal 
accusation  against  Him,  they  resolved  to  question  Him 
in  public.  Their  first  inquiry  was  intentionally  vague. 
The  phrase  "  these  things,"  could  mean  anything  or  noth- 
ing, as  they  might  afterwards  find  convenient.  It  might 
include  all  His  miracles  and  teachings  since  the  com- 
mencement of  His  ministry,  or  it  might  be  limited  to  the 
events  of  the  last  few  days.  By  entering  the  city  as  a 
King,  and  accepting  the  homage  and  hosannas  of  the 
people,  and  especially  by  exercising  for  a  day  supreme 

*  Hebrews  x'l.  especially  32-40. 


620  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST.  * 

authority  in  the  temple,  Jesus  had  seemed  to  set  Himself 
up  as  the  Messiah ;  but  He  had  not,  in  so  many  words, 
announced  His  character  and  claims.  His  enemies  hoped 
that  the  time  had  come,  when  His  reticence  would  cease 
and  He  would  boldly  say,  "  I  am  tue  Christ."  In  that 
case  their  course  was  plain;  the  whole  matter  might  at 
once  be  brought  before  the  Sanhedrim.  But  they  were 
short-sighted  with  all  their  cunning.  They  fell  into  the 
trap  which  they  had  prepared  for  Him.  They  forgot  that 
He  also  could  ask  questions. 

"Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  I  will  also  ask 
you  one  question,  and  answer  Me,  and  I  will  tell  you  by 
what  authority  I  do  these  things.  The  baptism  of  John — 
was  it  from  heaven  or  of  men  ?  Answer  me."  This  was 
a  turn  which  they  had  not  expected.  They  well  under- 
stood that  John  w^as  still  regarded  as  a  true  prophet  by 
the  whole  nation ;  probably  they  themselves  had  received 
his  baptism;  and  in  difterent  circumstances  they  would 
not  have  hesitated  to  avow  their  belief  in  his  prophetic 
mission;  but  to  do  it  then  and  there  would  have  entan- 
gled them  in  a  hopeless  dilemma.  They  knew  that  John 
had  borne  explicit  testimony  to  Jesus  as -the  Messiah,  and 
that  the  next  question  would  be, "  Why  did  ye  not  believe 
Him?"  On  the  other  hand,  if  they  denied  the  divine 
origin  of  John's  baptism  they  dreaded  an  outbreak  of  the 
multitude,  who  without  exception  "  counted  John,  that 
He  was  a  prophet  indeed."  In  this  dilemma,  after  a  brief 
consultation  among  themselves,  they  beat  a  hasty  retreat, 
saying,  "  we  caii  not  tell."  And  Jesus  answering,  said 
unto  them,  neither  tell  I  you  by  what  authority  I  do  these 
things."  Then  He  added  the  most  transparent  of  all  His 
parables :  "  But  what  think  ye !  A  certain  man  had  two 
sons ;  and  he  came  to  the  first  and  said,  Son,  go  work  to- 
day in  my  vineyard.  He  answered  and  said,  I  will  not ; 
but  afterwards  he  repented  and  went.     And  he  came  to 


CHRIST    AND    THE    PHARISEES.  021 

the  second,  and  said  likewise.  And  he  answered  and  said, 
I  go  sir;  and  went  not.  Whether  of  them  twain  did  the 
will  of  his  father  ?  They  say  unto  Him,  The  first.  Jesus 
saith  unto  them.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  that  the  piil)li- 
cans  and  the  harlots  go  into  the  kiaigdom  of  God  before 
you.  For  John  came  unto  you  in  the  way  of  righteous- 
ness and  ye  believed  him  not;  but  the  publicans  and  tlie 
harlots  believed  him ;  and  ye  when  ye  had  seen  it,  re- 
pented not  afterward  that  ye  might  believe  him." 

Thus  our  Lord  charges  home  upon  them  their  hypocrisy, 
and  shows  that  their  hostility  to  Himself  was  without 
excuse.  Even  the  most  immoral  and  infamous  classes 
had  shown  more  spiritual  discernment  and  more  facility 
in  believing,  than  those  who  sat  in  Moses'  seat.  He 
plainly  tells  them  that  the  first  son  represented  the  pulj- 
licans  and  harlots ;  and  the  second,  who  professed  his 
readiness  to  obey  his  father,  represented  themselves.  The 
rage  of  His  enemies  must  have  been  intense ;  but  con- 
scious that  they  were  playing  a  desperate  game,  and 
knowing  that  the  sympathy  of  the  multitude  was  as  yet 
with  Jesus,  they  kept  .silence.  Bound  to  the  spot  as  by 
a  spell,  they  listened  sullenly  to  another  parable: 

"  There  was  a  certain  householder  which  planted  a 
vineyard,  and  hedged  it  round  about,  and  digged  a  wine- 
press in  it,  and  built  a  tower,  and  let  it  out  to  husband- 
men, and  went  into  a  far  country.  And  when  the  time 
of  the  fruit  drew  near,  he  sent  his  servants  to  the  hus- 
bandmen, that  they  might  receive  the  fruits  of  it.  And 
the  husbandmen  took  his  servants,  and  beat  one,  and 
killed  another,  and  stoned  another.  Again  he  sent  other 
servants  more  than  the  first,  and  they  did  unto  them  like- 
wise. But  last  of  all,  he  sent  unto  them  his  son,  saving, 
They  will  reverence  my  son.  But  when  tlie  husbandmen 
saw  the  son,  they  said  among  themselves.  This  is  the  heir; 
come,  let  us  kill  him,  and  let  us  seize  on  his  inheritance 


622  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

And  they  caught  him  and  cast  him  out  of  the  vineyard, 
and  slew  him.  When  the  Lord  therefore  of  the  vineyard 
Cometh,  what  Avill  he  do  to  those  husbandmen?  They 
say  unto  Him,  He  will  miserably  destroy  those  wicked 
men,  and  will  let  out  his  vineyard  unto  other  husband- 
men which  shall  render  him  the  fruits  in  their  seasons." 

Doubtless  the  priests  and  Pharisees  saw^  the  drift  of  this 
parable,  but  they  afiected  unconsciousness.  This  was  in 
effect  to  pronounce  a  terrible  judgment  on  themselves, 
which  Jesus  immediately  applies  • — "  Did  ye  never  read 
m  the  Scriptures,  The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected, 
the  same  is  become  the  head  of  the  corner:  this  is  the 
Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eye.s  ?  There- 
fore I  say  unto  3'ou,  The  kingdom  of  God  shall  be  taken 
from  you  and  given  to  a  nation  bringing  forth  the  fruits 
thereof  And  whosoever  shall  fall  on  this  stone  shall  be 
broken ;  but  on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall  it  shall  grind  him 
to  powder."  Thus,  then,  it  became  clear,  that  the  vine- 
yard was  the  kingdom  of  God ;  that  the  wicked  husband- 
men were  the  Jews,  especially  the  chief  priests,  elders,  and 
rulers  ;  that  the  servants  of  the  owner  w^ere  the  prophets; 
and  that  Jesus  Himself,  whose  murder  they  were  at  that 
moment  plotting,  was  the  Son.  The  conclusion  was  in- 
evitable that  the  kingdom  of  God  should  be  taken  from 
them  and  given  to  others.  By  these  parables,  so  lucid,  so 
obvious,  3'et  so  terrible  in  their  application,  the  enemies 
of  Jesus  w^erc  stung  to  the  quick.  They  would  at  once 
have  laid  hands  upon  Him,  but  for  fear  of  the  people. 
For  the  moment  they  were  silenced,  and  Jesus  proceeded 
to  utter  another  parable : 

"The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  certain  king, 
which  made  a  marriage  for  his  son,  and  sent  forth  his  ser- 
vants to  call  them  that  w^ere  bidden  to  the  wedding ;  nnd 
the}^  would  not  come.  And  he  sent  forth  other  servants, 
saying,  Tell  them  that  are  bidden.  Behold,  I  have  pre- 


CHRIST   AND    THE    PHARISEES.  623 

pared  my  dinner;  my  oxen  and  my  fallings  are  killed, 
and  all  things  are  ready;  come  unto  the  marriage.  JJut 
they  made  light  of  it,  and  went  their  ways,  one  to  his 
farm,  another  to  his  merchandise.  And  the  remnant  took 
his  servants,  and  entreated  them  spitefidly,  and  slew 
them.  But  when  the  king  heard  thereof,  he  was  wroth ; 
and  he  sent  forth  his  armies  and  destroyed  those  mur- 
derers, and  burned  up  their  city.  Then  saith  he  to  his 
servants.  The  wedding  is  ready,  but  they  which  were 
bidden  were  not  worthy.  Go  ye  therefore  into  the  high- 
ways, and  as  many  as  ye  shall  find,  Ijid  unto  the  marriage. 
So  those  servants  went  out  into  the  highways,  and  gath- 
ered together  all  as  many  as  they  found,  both  bad  and 
good ;  and  the  wedding  was  furnished  with  guests.  And 
when  the  king  came  in  to  see  the  guests^  he  saw  there  a 
man  which  had  not  on  a  wedding  garment ;  and  he  saith 
unto  him,  Friend,  how  earnest  thou  in  hither,  not  having 
a  wedding  garment?  And  he  was  speechless.  Then 
said  the  king  to  his  servants.  Bind  him  hand  and  foot, 
and  take  him  away,  and  cast  him  into  outer  darkness; 
there  shall  be  weej^ing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  For  many 
are  called,  but  few  are  chosen." 

The  kingdom  of  God  is  here  represented  under  the 
figure  of  a  marriage  feast  given  by  the  King  (God)  to 
His  Son  (Christ).  The  guests  first  invited  are  the  Jewish 
people,  to  whom  John  the  Baptist,  the  twelve  apostles,  and 
the  seventy,  proclaimed  the  near  approach  of  the  king- 
dom of  God.  The  servants  sent  forth  at  supper  time  to 
announce  to  the  invited  guests,  that  the  oxen  and  fallings 
were  killed  and  all  things  were  ready,  represent  the  dis- 
ciples who,  after  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ, 
preached  remission  of  sins  in  His  name,  beginning  at  Je- 
rusalem. The  persons  who  first  accepted  the  invitation 
and  then  declined  the  feast,  even  maltreating  and  murder- 
ing the  servants,  represent,  of  course,  the  covenant  peo- 


G2-i  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIPJST. 

pie,  whose  destruction  is  clearly  set  forth  by  the  sendino- 
forth  of  the  king's  armies  to  punish  the  murderers  and 
burn  their  city.  The  gathering  in  of  chance  guests,  not 
included  in  the  first  invitation,  signifies  the  calling  of  the 
Gentiles.  The  wedding  garment,  freely  provided,  as  the 
parable  im^olies,  for  all, — is,  of  course,  the  righteousness 
of  faith,  w^ithout  which  none,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile, 
shall  sit  down  to  the  "Marriage  Supper  of  the  Lamb." 
Thus  again  Jesus  declares  the  transference  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  from  the  Jews  to  the  Gentiles.  The  parable 
is  mainly  prophetic,  though  it  incidentally  sets  forth  the 
fulness  and  freeness  of  redemption,  and  the  supreme 
blessedness  and  glory  of  those  who  accept  the  offer  of 
salvation  through  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  Those  who  are 
now  in  the  visible  church  waiting  for  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  for  the  marriage  supper  which 
shall  inaugurate  His  glorious  kingdom,  ought  to  see  to  it 
that  they  have  on  the  wedding  garment,  even  tlicd  linen 
clean  and  white  which  is  the  righteousness  of  saints. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

CHETST  AND  HIS   ENEMIES  IN  THE  TE^IPLE. 

ixsidious  question  of  the  sadducees  touching  the  resurrection — 
Christ's  answer. 

Matthew  xsii.  15-33.    Mark  xn.  13-27.    LnKB  xx.  26-40. 

Jesus  is  still  in  the  temple,  surrounded  by  His  disciples 
and  by  an  immense  multitude.  The  chief  priests  and 
elders,  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  had  so  confidently 
approached  Him  when  He  came  into  the  temple,  are  con- 
founded and  crest-fallen ;  for  their  ensnaring  questions 
have  been  swept  away  like  spiders'  webs,  or  have  served 
only  to  entangle  themselves.  They  retire  temporarily 
from  the  contest,  that  they  may  take  secret  counsel 
together,  probably  in  the  Stone  Chamber  of  the  Sanhe- 
drim. Baffled  but  full  of  rage,  they  resolve  not  to  give 
over  the  policy  which  they  have  adopted;  namel^^,  to  draw 
from  Jesus  some  utterance  which  would  com-promise  Him 
with  the  Roman  authorities,  or  with  the  people.  They 
determine  to  keep  themselves  in  the  background,  lest 
their  presence  should  put  Him  on  His  guard.  They 
therefore  select  a  number  of  tools  from  amono;  their  dis- 
ciples  and  from  a  party,  more  political  than  religious, 
called  the  Herodians.  This  sect,  if  it  was  indeed  a  sect, 
eeems  to  have  been  comjDOsed  of  partisans  of  the  Hero- 
dian  family.  They  were  undou1)tedly  Jews  who  sustained 
the  Herodian  rule  as  the  main  pillar  of  Jewish  nationality, 

and  were  willing  to  submit  to  domestic  tyranny   rather 
40 


626  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

than  succumb  to  Eoman  power  and  greed.  In  so  for  as 
they  were  opposed  to  heathen  rule,  they  were  allied  to 
the  Pharisees ;  but  as  partisans  of  Herod,  they  must  have 
looked  with  satisfoction  on  such  a  compromise  between 
the  Hebrew  foitli  and  the  Roman  civilization  as  the  princes 
of  that  house  endeavored  to  maintain.  Thus  they  had 
strong  affinities  with  the  Sadducees.  Such  was  the  party 
the  leaders  of  which  were  now  called  into  the  conclave 
of  Pharisaic  conspirators.  It  was  decided  to  propose  to 
Jesus  a  question  having  a  double  aspect,  being  in  fact 
both  religious  and  political. 

Having  received  their  instructions,  the  chosen  ques- 
tioners came  to  Jesus  in  the  character  of  sincere  in- 
quirers, who  w^ere  sorely  perplexed  by  a  pressing  case  of 
conscience :  "  Master,  we  know  that  thou  art  true,  and 
teachest  the  way  of  God  in  truth,  neither  carest  thou  for 
any  man ;  for  Thou  regardest  not  the  person  of  men. 
Tell  us,  therefore,  what  thinkest  Thou?  Is  it  lawful  to 
give  tribute  unto  Csesar  or  not?"  It  was  indeed  a  peril- 
ous question.  Should  He  say,  JVo, — which  was  the  an- 
swer they  expected  and  wished  for, — then  the  Herodians 
would  be  w^itnesses  against  Him,  while  the  Pharisees 
would  be  ready  as  "impartial,  honest"  people  to  sustain 
their  testimony.  Should  He  say.  Yes, — then  He  would 
compromise  Himself  with  the  people,  who  longed  to  throw 
off  the  Roman  yoke.  How  the  hypocritical  interrogators 
must  have  quailed  under  the  searching  glance  of  Him 
who  needeth  not  that  any  should  tell  Him  what  is  in 
man  !  They  get  their  answer — all  too  soon  :  "  Wh}-  tempt 
ye  Me,  ye  hypocrites  ?  Show  Me  the  tribute  money. 
They  brought  Him  a  penny  (denarius).  Whose  is  this 
image  and  superscription  ?  They  say  unto  Him,  Ca3sar's. 
Then  said  He  unto  them.  Render  therefore  unto  Ca\'^ar 
the  things  which  are  Ccesar's;  and  to  God  the  things  that 
are  God's." 


CHRIST    AND    UIS    ENEMIES.  027 

There  is  in  these  words,  as  Stier  has  remarked,  a  l)ox 
within  a  box,  a  meaning  within  a  meaning.  The  answer 
of  Christ  is  not  evasive,  as  some  have  thought,  but  it  is  at 
once  direct  and  far-reaching.  Two  kinds  of  coin  were  in 
circuhxtion  among  the  Jews ;  the  imperial  money  stamped 
with  the  effigies  of  Ca3sar,  and  the  sacred  temple-money 
bearing  another  stamp.  When  Christ  called  for  the  trib- 
ute-money, they  brought  ITim  a  denarius,  wliicli  bore  th6 
image  of  the  reigning  emperor,  Tiberius.  The  circulation 
of  that  particular  coin  was  a  proof  that  the  Roman  au- 
thority was  extended  over  the  Jewish  nation ;  that  Ca3sar 
had  certain  dues  which  the  people  ought  to  concede;  in  a 
word,  that  tribute  ought  to  be  cheerfully  yielded.  But 
on  the  other  hand  the  temple-tax  must  also  be  cheerfully 
paid ;  for  that  was  a  tribute  to  God.  Doubtless  the  penny 
represented  much  more  than  Caesar's  right  to  tribute ;  it 
was  a  proof  of  his  authority  in  a  certain  sphere,  limited 
by  the  paramount  authority  of  God.  Jesus  therefore  de- 
clares that  obedience  to  God  and  to  Ca?sar  are  not  incom- 
patible, but  sustains  the  authority  of  both.  The  liuiit 
of  Ccesar's  authority  is  not  indeed  defined,  but  it  is  im- 
plied that  the  law  of  God,  interpreted  by  conscience,  is  in 
all  doubtful  cases  an  infallible  guide.  That  which  the 
conscience  affirms  as  due  to  God  must  not  be  given  to 
Cfesar.  In  this  view  we  quote  with  pleasure  the  com- 
ment of  Renan : — "  By  this  expression — '  Render  to  Ciesar 
the  things  that  are  Cassar's  and  to  God  the  things  that 
are  God's' — Jesns  has  created  something  beyond  pol- 
itics, a  refuge  for  souls  in  the  midst  of  the  empire  of  bru- 
tal force The   power  of  the  state  was  limited  to 

earth,  the  soul  w^as  enfranchised,  or  at  least  the  terrible 
fasces  of  Roman  omnipotence  were  broken  forever." 

When  Jesus  referred  to  the  image  of  Cresar  on  tlio  de- 
narius as  an  evidence  that  it  belonged  to  him,  it  is  plainly 
implied   that  whatever  bears  the  imaire  of  God  belongrs 


G28  TUE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

likewise  to  Iliin.  The  penny  to  Ca?s<ir :  the  soul  to  God ! 
AYe  can  easily  believe  that  the  questioners,  when  they 
heard  this  answer  marvelled  and  held  their  peace.  Jesus 
was  victorious.  They  were  conscious  that  their  subtle 
scheme  had  miscarried  •  that  their  malice  had  been  de- 
tected and  exposed. 

All  the  Jewish  parties  were  in  turn  to  be  confounded 
b}^  the  calm  wisdom  and  Divine  authority  of  the  Master. 
Soon  after  the  Herodians  had  retired,  the  Sadducees  came 
to  Him  with  what  they  regarded  as  a  problem  insoluble 
except  on  their  own  materialistic  principles.  This  aristo- 
cratic sect,  glorying  in  its  high  culture,  its  wealth,  and  its 
freedom  from  superstition,  had  hitherto  stood  aloof  from 
Jesus,  whom  they  probably  regarded  as  a  Galilean  en- 
thusiast. They  were  of  an  epicurean  temper,  and  eager 
to  enjoy  the  good  things  of  this  world.  Denying  the 
doctrine  of  a  future  life,  they  professed  to  practice  virtue 
for  its  own  sake ;  but  their  moral  standard  seems  to  have 
been  low,  and  their  religion  a  dry  formalism.  They  had 
long  had  a  monopoly  of  the  highest  dignities  of  the  hie- 
rarchy, and  they  looked  v.'ith  indolent  contempt  on  all 
deep,  spiritual  niovements  among  the  people.  As  they 
did  not  actively  persecute  our  Lord  during  the  greater 
portion  of  His  ministry,  they  escaped  the  severe  denun- 
ciations which  He  pronounced  against  the  Pharisees. 

The  time  had  come,  however,  when  this  sect  was  to  be 
roused  from  its  lethargy.  Jesus  had  entered  the  city  and 
the  temple  as  a  King.  He  had  exercised  authority  over 
the  temple  itself  The  enthusiasm  of  the  people  was 
setting  strongly  in  His  favor,  and  it  naturall}^  struck  the 
shrewd,  worldly  leaders  of  the  sect,  that  nothing  could 
prevent  a  revolution  except  the  taking  off  of  the  Galilean 
Prophet.  They  therefore  entered,  perhaps  reluctantly, 
into  the  conspiracy  against  Jesus.  Tlieir  first  appearance 
on  the  stage  w^as  not  creditable  to  tlieir  worldly  wisdom. 


CHRIST    AND    HIS    ENEMIES.  GL"J 

They  hoped  to  confound  our  Lord  ^\ilh  their  ch.iiisy 
dialectics.  Attributing  to  Him  certain  gro.^s  fancies  con- 
cerning the  mode  of  existence  and  the  social  relations  (jf 
saints  after  the  resurrection,  they  hoped  to  perplex  and 
silence  Ilim  by  the  following  childish  problem :  "  Master, 
Moses  said,  If  a  man  die,  having  no  children,  his  brother 
shall  marry  his  wife,  and  raise  up  seed  to  his  brother. 
Now,  there  were  with  us  seven  brethren ;  and  the  first, 
when  he  had  married  a  wife,  deceased;  and  having  no 
issue,  left  his  wife  unto  his  brother.  Likewise  the  second 
also,  and  the  third,  unto  the  seventh.  And  last  of  all  the 
woman  died  also.  Therefore,  in  the  resurrection  whose 
wife  shall  she  be  of  the  seven  ?  for  they  all  had  her." 

It  is  very  noticeable  that  our  Lord  treats  these  Saddu- 
cees  with  extreme  gentleness.  Far  from  denouncing  them 
as  hypocrites,  He  charges  them  only  with  error :  "  Ye  do 
err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures  nor  the  power  of  God." 
They  thought  themselves  well  versed  in  the  Scriptures, 
especially  in  the  wTitings  of  Moses ;  but  they  were  now 
told  that  they  had  never  penetrated  beneath  the  "  letter 
which  killeth."  They  felt  sure  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  was  not  contained  in  the  Pentateuch ;  and 
they  therefore  rejected  it ;  for  they  attached  no  authority 
to  the  oral  law,  and  only  a  general,  secondary  authority 
to  the  prophets.  Jesus  reproves  them  for  their  blindness 
to  the  inner  meaning  of  the  Scriptures.  Tliat  was  the 
cause  of  their  error.  We  may  remark  in  passing  that  all 
Sadducean  errors  of  later  times  may  be  clearly  traced  to  a 
similar  ijj-norance  of  the  Word  of  God.  Our  Lord  con- 
tinues :  "  The  children  of  this  world  marry  and  are  given 
in  marriage ;  but  they  which  shall  be  accounted  worthy 
to  obtain  that  world  and  the  resurrection  from  the  dead, 
neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage ;  neither  can  they 
die  any  more  ;  for  they  are  equal  unto  the  angels,  and  are 
the  children  of  God,  being  the  children  of  the  rcsurrcc- 


GoO  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

tion."  While  Jesus  does  not  deny  an  eternal  distinction 
of  sex — wliicli,  for  aught  that  appears,  may  exist  even 
among  the  angels — He  denies  such  a  relation  between  the 
sexes  as  is  the  very  condition  of  human  existence  in  this 
world.  That  relation  implies  mortality ;  for  in  a  world 
without  death  the  law  of  reproduction  will  not  prevail. 
In  that  world  tliere  ivill  he  no  mai^riage.  Thus  the  diffi- 
cult problem  of  the  Sadducees  melts  into  air.  It  involved 
a  gross  misconception  of  society  among  glorified  saints. , 

Having  thus  corrected  the  error  of  His  interrogators, 
Jesus  proceeds  to  prove  that  the  doctrine  of  the  resur- 
rection was  contained  "  even  "  in  Moses,  whose  divine  le- 
gation and  inspiration  they  acknowledged: — "And  as 
touching  the  dead  that  they  rise,  have  ye  not  read  in  the 
book  of  Moses,  how  in  the  bush,  God  spake  unto  him, 
saying,  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac, 
and  the  God  of  Jacob  ?  He  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead 
but  the  God  of  the  living ;  ye  do  therefore  greatly  err." 
The  argument  turns  on  the  relation  between  a  living, 
personal  God  and  the  patriarchs  as  living  persons.  God 
had  conversed  with  Abraham  as  friend  with  friend ;  He 
had  entered  into  covenant  with  him ;  He  had  declared 
Himself  Abraham's  God.  Long  after  the  death  of  Abra- 
ham, and  of  Isaac  and  Jacob,  with  whom  the  same  cove- 
nant had  been  renewed,  God  still  called  Himself  their 
God.  "If  they  no  longer  lived,  if  they  w^ere  annihilated 
as  the  Sadducees  fancied,  then  the  appeal  to  the  promise 
which  had  been  given  to  them,  far  from  being  confirm- 
atory of  the  faith  of  Moses  and  of  Israel,  was  rather  a 
bitter  irony  on  the  part  of  God  against  Himself:  '  I  who 
have  not  delivered  even  those  from  death!'  If  the 
words  '  I  am  their  God '  are  to  be  understood  in  any  way 
worthy  of  God,  then  must  the  fiithers  still  exist  as  ^^er- 
S07Z.S-,  as  their  names  indicate,  inasmuch  as  He  thus  speaks 
of  them.     The  ever-living  One  must  otherwise  be  truly 


CHRIST   AND    UlS    ENEMIES.  G31 

ashamed  to  be  called  a  God  of  beings  \vlio  existed  only 
for  a  short  space  of  time."*  *'lle  is  not  the  (Jod  oi"  the 
dead  but  of  the  living." 

It  may  strike  some  readers  that  the  argument  of  Christ 
proves  the  continued  and  endless  existence  of  the  soul, 
but  has  no  bearing  on  the  resurrection  of  ihe  hod//.  It 
may  relieve  the  minds  of  such  readers  to  consider  that 
the  resurrection,  as  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament,  al- 
ways implies  that  the  subject,  though  dead,  is  still  in 
some  sense  living.  Thus  our  Saviour  in  John  v.  28, 
speaks  of  the  persons  who  shall  be  raised  at  the  last 
day  as  previously  existing :  "  The  hour  is  coming  in 
the  which  all  that  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear  His 
voice  and  shall  come  forth."  So  also  the  famous  illus- 
tration of  the  apostle  Paul  in  I.  Corinthians,  xv.  35-38, 
implies  that  the  life  of  the  saints  who  shall  be  raised  in 
incorruption  and  glory  shall  never  be  suspended :  '•'  Thou 
fool,  that  which  tliou  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it 
die ;  and  that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that 
body  that  shall  be,  but  bare  grain,  it  may  chance  of 
wheat  or  of  some  other  grain,  but  God  giveth  it  a  body 
as  it  hath  pleased  Him,  and  to  every  seed  its  own  body." 
The  life  of  the  germ — what  may  be  called  the  soul  of 
the  plant — is  not  destroyed  by  the  decay  of  its  hody — 
the  kernel  of  grain  to  which  it  belongs  —  else  its  devel- 
opment in  a  new  form,  its  resurrection,  would  be  impossi- 
ble. So,  if  the  souls  of  the  righteous  were  annihilated  at 
death,  if  no  living  germ  survived  the  dissolution  of  the 
body,  there  could  be  no  resurrection  of  the  same  persons. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  continued  though  imperfect  and 
fragmentary  life  of  the  departed  is  a  sure  pledge  of  their 
future  resurrection,  just  as  the  life  of  a  decaying  seed,  is 
a  promise  of  its  speedy  germination  and  reproduction  in 

*Stier,  volume  3,  page  172. 


632  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

a  new  body.  ^'  The  living  God  gives  by  His  own  power, 
life  to  His  own;  but  Abraham's  soul  is  not  the  entire 
Abraham,  and  without  body  Abraham  is  not  entirely  liv- 
ing." *  While  therefore  the  words  of  Jesus  prove  beyond 
cavil  the  reality  of  a  separate  state  intermediate  between 
death  and  the  resurrection,  they  al^o  imply  that  souls  in 
that  state,  though  they  live  unto  God,  are  under  a  certain 
disability  and  limitation  which  will  cease  when  as  "the 
children  of  God."  they  shall  rise  from  the  dead,  clothed  in 
bodies  like  unto  Christ's  glorious  body.  The  present  state 
of  the  holy  dead  is  blessed  and  peaceful ;  they  sleep  in 
Jesus ;  and  they  are  conscious  of  His  presence ;  but  they 
without  us  can  not  be  made  perfect.  They  wait  in  earnest 
expectation,  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  or 
in  other  words,  for  the  redemption  of  their  bodies. 

The  Sadducees,  when  they  heard  this  answer  of  Jesus, 
had  nothing  to  say  in  reply ;  but  some  of  the  scribes  who 
were  present,  hearing  this  triumphant  vindication  of  their 
doctrine,  forgot  for  the  moment  their  hostility  and  ex- 
claimed, "  Master,  Thou  hast  well  said  !  " 

*  Steir,  volume  3,  page  173. 


CHAPTER    V. 

CHKIST  AND   HIS   ExXEMIES  — CONTINUED. 

JESUS  STILL  IN  THE  TEMPLE  —  THE  PHARISEES  AGAIN  IN  COUNCIL — A 
LAWYER  IS  PUT  FORTH  TO  QUESTION  JESUS — THE  ANSWER  OF  CHRIST — 
JESUS  QUESTIONS  THE  PHARISEES  CONCERNING  THE  SON  OF  DAVID — 
TERRIBLE  DENUNCIATIONS  OF  THE  SCRIBES  AND  PHARISEES — THE 
widow's    MITE — CERTAIN    GREEKS    SEEK    AN   INTERVIEW    WITH    JESUS. 

Matthew  xsii.  34-16.    Mark  sil.  28-44.     Luke  xx.  41-47.    Matthew  sxiii,  1-39.     Luke  xxiii.  1-4. 

Jou.v  xu.  20-36. 

The  Phaeisees  seem  to  have  been  still  in  council  when 
the  intelligence  was  brought  them  that  the  Sadducees  had 
also  been  put  to  silence.  They  probably  heard  this  with 
mingled  exultation  and  disappointment.  They  certainly 
did  not  regret  that  what  they  regarded  as  a  fundamental 
error,  had  been  publicly  refuted  from  the  Scriptures ;  but 
they  must  have  felt  uneasy  that  in  this  "  war  of  words," 
Jesus  had  hitherto  overcome  all  His  assailants  and  put 
them  to  shame  in  the  presence  of  the  multitude.  Their 
main  purpose  had  been  completely  thwarted ;  for  they 
had  not  elicited  from  Him  a  single  utterance  tending  to 
bring  Him  into  discredit  with  the  people,  or  furnishing 
ground  for  a  judicial  procedure  against  Him.  What  was 
next  to  be  done  ?  The  answer  of  Jesus  to  the  Sadducees 
had  contained  an  exposition  of  an  important  passage  in  the 
Pentateuch,  so  new  and  profound,  that  even  the  scribes 
had  been  surprised  and  delighted.  The  Pharisees  seem  to 
have  thought,  however,  that  Jesus,  an  unlearned  Galilean, 


C34  THE    LIFE    OF    CnFJST. 

must  have  stumbled  by  chance  on  His  interpretation,  and 
that  if  He  Avere  further  questioned  He  would  not  fail  to 
betray  His  ignorance.  They  therefore  put  forward  a 
certain  scribe,  distinguished  for  his  profound  knowledge 
of  the  law  and  therefore  called  a  lawyer,  to  test  our  Lord's 
knowledge  and  insight.  This  lawyer  answered  their  pur- 
pose all  the  better  because  he  was  wise,  tolerant  and  can- 
did— a  sincere  seeker  after  truth.  They  probably  left 
the  form  and  even  the  matter  of  the  questioning  to  him. 
He,  having  heard  the  answer  which  silenced  the  Sad- 
ducees,  brought  forward  a  question  of  great  importance, 
then  much  agitated  among  the  doctors  of  the  law  — 
a  question  in  which  he  j^ersonally  felt  a  deep  interest, 
and  on  which  he  hoped  Jesus  would  cast  some  light : 
"  Which  is  the  first  commandment  of  all  ? "  Jesus  an- 
swered, "  Hear,  0,  Israel :  The  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord  ; 
and  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all 
thy  strength ;  this  is  the  first  commandment.  And  the 
second  is  like,  namely,  this.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself;  there  is  none  other  commandment  greater 
than  these."  Considering  that  this  lawyer  was  a  Phari- 
see, his  ready  and  cordial  assent  to  the  answer  of  Christ, 
and  his  voluntary  declaration  that  love  to  God  and  man 
was  "more  than  whole  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices,"  is 
remarkable.  Jesus  Himself  regarded  him  with  special 
interest  and  said  to  him,  "  Thou  art  not  far  from  i\\Q 
kingdom  of  God."  "And  in  this  He  intended  no  more 
and  no  less  than  the  words  conveyed.  Had  He  consid- 
ered an  earnest  moral  striving,  such  as  this  man  ex- 
pressed, to  be  sufficient,  He  would  have  acknowledged 
liim  as  not  only  near  but  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  He 
tells  him,  however,  that  he  is  on  the  way  to  it,  because 
he  was  freed  from  the  Pharisaic  delusion  of  the  righteous- 
ness of  works,  and  knew  the  nature  of  genuine  piety; 


CHRIST    AND    niS    ENEMIES — C0XTIXUP:D.  G35 

and  could  therefore  be  more  readily  convinced  of  ^vlult 
he  still  lacked  of  the  sj)irit  of  the  law  which  he  so  wl'W 
understood.  The  conscious  need  of  redemption,  llms 
awakened,  would  lead  him  to  the  only  source  whence 
his  wants  could  be  supplied."* 

While  this  conversation  between  Christ  and  the  lawyer 
was  going  on,  the  Pharisees,  having  left  their  conclave, 
W'Cre  gathered  round  the  speakers.  Jesus  seized  the  o})- 
portunity  to  propose  a  question  to  them,  not  surely  for 
the  purpose  of  embarrassing  them,  but  rather  of  suggest- 
ing to  the  people  a  higher  view  of  the  person  of  the 
Messiah  than  they  had  yet  entertained : — "  What  think 
ye  of  Christ?  Whose  Son  is  He  ?"  The  answer  was,  of 
course,  such  as  He  anticipated :  "  The  Son  of  David." 
Every  intelligent  Jew  knew  that  the  Messiah  was  to  be 
of  the  lineage  of  the  prophet-king,  and  was  to  be  born 
at  Bethlehem,  the  ancient  seat  of  the  family;  but  the 
most  enlightened  of  the  nation  had  yet  to  learn  His 
divine  and  eternal  generation.  To  lead  them  on  to  this 
more  difficult  yet  vital  conception,  Jesus  appeals  to  David 
himself:  "  How  then  doth  David  in  spirit  call  Him  Lord, 
saying,  the  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  Thou  on  my 
right  hand,  till  I  make  Thine  enemies  Thy  footstool  ?  If 
David  then  call  Him  Lord,  how  is  He  his  Son?" 

This  question,  wdiich  none  attempted  to  answer,  is  the 
question  of  ages.  The  wisest  and  most  enlightened  Chris- 
tians, during  eighteen  hundred  years,  have  studied  it  al- 
most without  intermission ;  but  they  have  not  3'et  fotli- 
omed  the  "abysmal  depths"  of  Christ's  personality  or  the 
mystery  of  His  incarnation.  That  He  is  both  the  Son  of 
David  and  the  Son  of  God  in  one  person  forever,  is  con- 
fessed by  the  church  catholic  in  all  her  creeds ;  l)ut  how 
it  can  be,  is  a  deep  which  no  plummet  of  human  reason 

*Neander's  "Life  of  Christ,"  page  3G3. 


636  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

has  ever  sounded.  The  question  as  asked  by  our  Lord, 
evinces  a  full  consciousness  of  His  Divine  Sonship.  lie, 
standing  there  among  His  enemies,  knew  that  He  ^Yas 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh  ;  and  the  calm  wisdom  with 
which  He  intimated  rather  than  declared  the  mighty  se- 
cret which  He  carried  in  His  heart,  was  altogether  god- 
like. Well  did  He  know  that  His  hearers  were  not  pre- 
pared to  receive  it;  but  it  was  His  purpose  to  awaken 
their  minds  to  the  great  problem.  It  would  seem  that 
the  multitude  showed  special  pleasure  at  this  stage  of 
our  Lord's  discourse,  for  Mark  tells  us  that  "  the  common 
people  heard  Him  gladl}^"  But  His  enemies  were  sj)eech- 
less  with  mortification  and  rage.  We  picture  them  as 
eyeing  Him  askance,  from  under  lowering  brows,  while 
furtive  gestures  betrayed  their  deadly  hate.  The  contest 
of  words  was  now  over  and  they  were  fully  resolved  on 
more  desperate  measures.  They  felt  that  it  w^as  a  death- 
struggle  ;  Jesus  Himself  knew  that  His  hour  was  close  at 
hand.     And  He  did  not  shrink  from  the  crisis. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  He  delivered  the  most  terrible 
of  His  discourses — that  in  wdiich  He  painted  in  such 
awful  colors  the  hypocrisy  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees, 
and  pronounced  upon  them  a  seven-fold  woe.  Their 
pride,  ambition,  covetousness,  love  of  applause,  and  sanc- 
timoniousness ;  their  long  robes,  long  prayers,  broad  phy- 
lacteries, and  ostentatious  tithing  of  mint,  anise  and  cum- 
min, while  they  neglected  the  weightier  matters  of  the 
law,  judgment,  mercy  and  faith  ;  their  rapacity  in  de- 
vouring widows'  houses,  which  they  attempted  to  veil 
under  the  profession  of  extraordinary  sanctity ;  their 
proselytizing  zeal  and  their  ferocious  bigotry,  their  rigid 
formalism  and  their  hidden  wickedness  —  all  the  abom- 
inations of  this  unbelievino",  recreant  and  God-forsaken 
sect, — were  declared  in  language,  plain,  direct  and  terri- 
ble, which  must  have  fallen  on  their  ears  like  the  thun- 


CHRIST    AND    HIS    ENEMIES — CONTINUED.  637 

ders  of  the  judgment  day:  —  "Woe  unto  3'ou,  scribes, 
Pharisees,  hyj^ocrites !  because  ye  build  the  tombs  of  the 
prophets,  and  garnish  the  sepulchres  of  the  righteous, 
and  say.  If  Ave  had  been  in  the  days  of  our  fathers,  we 
would  not  have  been  partakers  with  them  in  the  blood 
of  the  prophets.  Wherefore,  ye  be  witnesses  unto  your- 
selves that  ye  are  the  children  of  them  which  killed  the 
prophets.  Fill  ye  up  then,  the  measure  of  your  fathers. 
Ye  serpents,  ye  generation  of  vipers,  how  can  ye  escape 
the  damnation  of  hell  ?  Wherefore,  behold  I  send  you 
prophets,  and  wise  men,  and  scribes ;  and  some  of  them 
ye  shall  kill  and  crucify,  and  some  of  them  ye  shall 
scourge  in  your  synagogues,  and  persecute  them  from 
city  to  city ;  that  upon  you  may  come  all  the  righteous 
blood  shed  upon  the  earth,  from  the  blood  of  righteous 
Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias,  the  son  of  Barachias, 
whom  ye  slew  between  the  porch  and  the  altar.  Yerily 
I  say  unto  you,  All  these  things  shall  come  upon  this 
generation.  0  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the 
prophets  and  stonest  them  which  are  sent  unto  thee,  how 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even 
as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  je 
would  not !  Behold  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate. 
For  I  say  unto  you.  Ye  shall  not  see  Me  henceforth,  till 
ye  shall  say.  Blessed  is  lie  that  cometh  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord." 

Thus  Jesus  pronounced  judgment  on  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees,  the  priests  and  rulers,  the  city  and  nation,  and 
even  on  the  temj^le  itself  Tt  was  an  awful  voice — a  voice 
of  seven  thunders ;  but  it  was  broken  with  sobs  of  infi- 
nite pity.  "  0,  Jerusalem !  Jerusalem!" — what  a  lament 
was  that  I  Though  Jesus  in  these  words  bade  flirewell  to 
the  temple.  He  did  not  immediately  leave  it.  "  lie  no 
more  hurried  away  from  the  temple  now  than  He  subse- 
quently hurried  away  from  the  grave  when  He  awoke  to 


638  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

new  life.  There  He  first  placed  the  grave-clothes  in 
order,  and  laid  them  on  one  side  quietly  5  and  here  He 
sat  down  for  a  little  time  in  the  forecom^t  of  the  women, 
opposite  the  boxes  for  offerings  which  belonged  to  the 
temple  treasury."*  Here  He  saw  the  people  casting  in 
their  offerings.  The  rich — from  all  parts  of  the  Holy 
Land,  from  distant  countries — made  large  oblations.  Few 
Jews  in  that  age  were  niggardly  towards  the  house  of 
God.  Among  the  multitude  a  female  in  widow's  weeds 
glided  up  to  the  treasury  and  cast  in  two  mites.  Little 
did  she  know  whose  eyes  were  upon  her.  But  Jesus 
"  called  unto  Him  His  disciples,  and  said  unto  them. 
Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  that  this  poor  widow  hath  cast  in 
more  than  they  all.  For  all  these  have  of  their  abun- 
dance cast  in  unto  the  offerings  of  God ;  but  she  of  her 
penury  hath  cast  in  all  the  living  that  she  had."  This 
commendation  implies  that  the  widow  had  not  only  given 
more  than  the  others  in  proportion  to  her  ability ;  but 
that  her  oblation  was  more  precious  because  it  proceeded 
from  a  heart  full  of  love  and  faith.  She  offered  to  God 
her  little  all,  and  herself.  Let  us  hope  that  she  heard 
the  gracious  words  of  Christ,  and  went  to  her  lowly  home 
with  a  heart  relieved  of  every  burden,  cheered  and  com- 
forted. 

Another  incident,  narrated  by  "  that  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved,"  may  well  have  taken  place  at  this  time.  Among 
the  thousands  of  strangers  who  thronged  the  courts  of  the 
temple  during  this  Passover  week,  were  not  a  few  of  Gen- 
tile blood,  who  had  either  joined  themselves  to  the  cove- 
nant people  by  submitting  to  circumcision,  or  embraced 
the  Jewish  religion  without  renouncing  their  nationality, 
These  last  were  called  j^roselytes  of  the  gate  ;  and  man}' 
of  them  were  devout  worshipers  of  the  true  God,  who 

*Lange's  "Life  of  Clirist,"  volume  4,  page  97. 


CHRIST   AND    HIS    ENEMIES — CONTINUED.  C39 

frequented  the  synagogues  abroad,  and  sometimes  pre- 
sented themselves  with  their  ollerings  at  the  teniple  in 
Jerusalem.  Some  of  this  class  were  present  during  this 
excitmg  week.  Whether  they  had  heard  of  Jesus  pre- 
vious to  their  coming  we  know  not.;  but  what  they  now 
witnessed  excited  not  only  curiosity  but  a  deeper  interest. 
They  were  Greeks,  and  had  probably  been  led  to  embrace 
Judaism  because  of  their  dissatisfaction  with  the  moral 
emptiness  and  impurity  of  their  own  religion.  There 
w^as,  however,  an  element  in  that  religion  which,  in  a 
certain  degree,  qualified  them  to  understand  the  truth  of 
the  incarnation.  It  assumed  that  the  gods  were  like 
men,  only  more  grand  and  beautiful ;  and  that  men  were 
made  in  the  likeness  of  gods.  Nay ;  it  asserted  that  gods 
had  become  men  and  left  on  the  earth  a  divine-human 
progeny;  and  that  men  had  become  gods.  The  Greek 
divinities  were  represented  by  statues  in  which  humanity 
was  idealized  and  invested  with  divine  loveliness.  With 
this  image  and  prophecy  of  the  incarnation  the  Greek 
religion  stopped.  That  God  mhs  to  be  manifest  in  the 
flesh,  a  Greek  who  had  embraced  monotheism  would  more 
readily  believe  than  a  Jew ;  but  that  the  incarnate  God 
would  redeem  the  world  through  suffering  and  death  was 
quite  alien  to  the  Hellenic  mind.  The  reader  will  bear 
this  in  mind,  while  considering  this  important  incident. 

These  Greeks,  desiring  to  see  Jesus,  requested  Philip 
of  Bethsaida, — perhaps,  because  he  spoke  their  language, 
possibly  because  they  had  previously  known  him,  certainly 
because  he  was  in  the  confidence  of  Jesus, — to  bring 
about  an  interview.  Why  Philip  should  have  thought  it 
necessarj'  to  consult  Andrew  does  not  appear.  Probably 
they  doubted  whether  such  a  public  conference  with  Gen- 
tiles w^ould  be  agreeable  to  their  Master.  However,  they 
brought  the  request  of  the  strangers  to  Jesus,  and  we 
can  scarcely  doubt  that  it  was  granted.     He  comprehended 


640  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIKIST. 

the  full  significance  of  this  event.  The  Gentile  world  ap- 
proached Him,  in  fitting  representatives,  at  the  very  crisis 
of  His  ministry;  and  this  was  a  token  that  that  world 
would,  at  no  distant  day,  be  white  unto  the  harvest. 
That  harvest,  however,  could  not  be  matured  and  gathered 
in  till  the  seed  from  which  it  was  to  grow  should  fall  into 
the  earth  and  die.  The  life  of  the  world  was  to  spring 
out  of  death.  If  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  was  almost 
ready  to  be  offered,  then  His  sufferings  and  death  Avere 
just  at  hand.  Hence  this  was  a  moment  not  only  of  sol- 
emn joy,  but  also  of  mental  distress  and  anguish.  "  The 
life  of  God  in  Him  did  not  exclude  the  uprising  of  human 
feelings,  in  view  of  the  sufferings  that  lay  before  Him, 
but  only  kept  them  in  their  proper  limits.  Not  by  iin- 
humanizing  Himself,  but  by  subordinating  the  human  to 
the  Divine  was  He  to  realize  the  ideal  of  pure  human 
virtue ;  He  was  to  be  a  perfect  example  for  men,  even  in 
the  struggles  of  human  weakness."  * 

Probably  it  was  when  the  Greeks  were  introduced,  that 
Jesus  said,  "  The  hour  is  come  that  the  Son  of  man  should 
be  glorified.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you.  Except  a  corn  of 
wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone ;  but 
if  it  die  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit.  He  that  loveth  his 
life  shall  lose  it ;  and  he  that  hatetli  his  life  in  this  world, 
shall  keep  it  unto  life  eternal.  If  any  man  serve  Me,  let 
him  follow  Me ;  and  wdiere  I  am,  there  shall  also  My 
servant  be :  if  any  man  shall  serve  Me,  him  will  My 
Father  honor.  Now  is  my  soul  troubled ;  and  what  shall 
I  say?  Father,  save  me  from  this  hour?  But  for  this 
cause  came  I  unto  this  hour.  FATiiEPt,  glopjfy  Thy 
Name  ! "  Scarcely  had  Jesus  uttered  this  praj' er,  when 
a  voice  fell  from  heaven,  which,  audible  to  all,  conveyed 
to  some  an  articulate  response :  '•  I  have  both  glori- 

*Neander's  "Life  of  Christ,"  page  376. 


CHEIST   AND    HIS    ENEMIES — CONTINUED.  G41 

FIED    IT,   AND    WILL    GLORIFY    IT    AGAIN."       TwicG    Ix'fore 

had  the  same  voice  attested  the  Divme  Sonship  of  Jesus, 
once  at  Bethabara,  and  once  on  the  Mount  of  Trunsfin:- 
uration.  It  was  fitting  that  the  same  voice  should  ho 
heard  in  the  temple,  at  the  moment  of  our  Lord's  depart- 
ure. Some  who  heard  the  sound,  without  distintruishinf!: 
the  words,  said  that  it  thundered ;  others  recoo-nizino;  ar- 
ticulate  speech  but  not  appreliending  the  sense,  said  that 
an  angel  spoke  to  Him.  Others,  by  a  supernatural  in- 
fluence, were  enabled  to  understand  both  the  Avords  and 
the  sense.*  Jesus  Himself  explained  its  design  in  solemn 
and  memorable  words,  the  last  He  ever  uttered  in  the 
temple : — "  This  voice  came  not  because  of  Me,  but  for 
your  sakes.  Now  is  the- judgment  of  this  world;  now 
shall  the  prince  of  this  world  be  cast  out.  And  I,  if  I  be 
lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  Me.  (This  He  said,  sig- 
nifying what  death  He  should  die.)  The  people  answered 
Him,  We  have  heard  out  of  the  law  that  Christ  abideth 
forever ;  and  how  sayest  Thou,  The  Son  of  man  must  be 
lifted  up  ?  Who  is  this  Son  of  man  ?  Then  Jesus  said 
unto  them.  Yet  a  little  while  is  the  light  with  you.  Walk 
while  ye  have  the  light,  lest  darkness  come  upon  you ; 
for  he  that  walketh  in  darkness  knoweth  not  whither  he 
goeth.  While  ye  have  the  light  believe  in  the  light,  that 
ye  may  be  the  children  of  the  light." 

Our  Lord  does  not  answer  the  question  of  the  people  ; 
for  that  question  originated  in  a  misconception  which  only 
His  death  and  resurrection  could  remove.  But  He  looked 
upon  them  with  sadness  and  pity,  and  gave  them  whole- 
some counsel  and  warning.  "  Do  not  now  ask  captious 
and  ill-timed  questions ;   but  improve  the  last  beams  of 


*I  regard  the  miracle  as  twofold — an  external  phenomenon,  and  the  in- 
ternal or  subjective  interpretation  of  that  phenomenon.     See  Ncaader  and 
Lange  in  loco. 
41 


642  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

the  declining  sun  to  find  tlie  way  in  which  you  ought  to 
walk.  The  night  is  at  hand :  woe  to  the  traveler  who 
idles  away  the  few  golden  moments  which  yet  remain.  I 
am  the  Light;  do  not  cavil  but  believe ;  so  you  shall  not 
walk  in  darkness  in  the  night  which  is  soon  to  fall  upon 
you."  Probably  Jesus  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the  natural 
day  was  now  far  spent,  and  the  shadows  of  the  evening 
were  at  hand.  So  the  day  of  His  earthly  life  and  of  His 
ministry  was  about  to  close ;  the  Light  of  the  world  was, 
in  a  certain  sense,  about  to  set !  A  dark,  dark  night  was 
already  casting  its  gloom  over  the  temple,  the  city,  the 
nation,  the  world.  Thus  Jesus  departed  from  the  temple, 
never  to  return.  The  holy  and  beautiful  house  was  left 
desolate. 


CHAPTER    VI. 
THE  PROPHETIC   DISCOURSE. 

JESUS  LEAVES  THE  TEMPLE — SURVEYS  ITS  STONES  AND  STRUCTURES  — 
PREDICTS  THE  UTTER  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  TEMPLE,  THE  CITY,  AND 
THE  THEOCRACY — THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD — DISCOURSE  ON  THE 
MOUNT   OF   OLIVES. 

Matthew  xxiv-sxv.    Mark  xiii.    Luke  xxi.  5-36. 

Whex  Jesus  was  leaving  the  temple  the  disciplo>?, 
having  in  mind  His  prophecy  (Luke  xix.  43,  44,  Mat- 
thew xxiii.  38,  39,)  touching  the  utter  destruction  of  the 
city  and  desolation  of  the  temple,  called  His  attention 
to  the  immense  stones,  of  the  whitest  marble,  of  which 
the  sacred  structures  were  built,  and  to  the  votive  gifts 
with  which  they  were  adorned.  The  temple  proper,  sur- 
rounded with  its  courts,  cloisters  and  out-buildings,  was 
the  admiration  even  of  those  who  had  seen  the  archi- 
tectural glories  of  Rome  and  Athens.  Some  of  the  stones 
were  forty-five  cubits  long,  five  high  and  six  broad.  To 
the  disciples,  the  temple  seemed  built  for  eternity.  Its 
total  demolition  was  inconceivable.  "Master,"  said  one, 
"See  what  manner  of  stones  and  what  buildings  are  here!" 
"Jesus  answering  said  unto  him,  Seest  thou  these  great 
buildings  ?  there  shall  not  be  left  one  stone  upon  another, 
^at  shall  not  be  thrown  down." 

The  disciples  must  have  heard  these  words  with  amaze- 
ment. Such  a  destruction  of  the  temple,  as  they  well 
knew,  would  involve  the  ruin  of  the  city,  the  nation,  the 


G44  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIPJST. 

theocracy — in  a  word — the  whole  exi^^ting  order  of  thmgs 
under  the  old  covenant.  Nay,  they  evidently  understood 
this  prophecy  as  pointing  to  the  destruction  of  the  world 
itself  Sadly,  therefore,  they  followed  their  Master  over 
the  brook  Kedron,  and  up  the  steep  ascent  of  Olivet. 
When  they  approached  the  point  where  the  temple  and 
the  city  could  be  surveyed  to  the  best  a(?lvantage,  Jesus 
turned  aside  and  sat  down  on  the  mountain.  The  holy 
and  beautiful  house  lay  just  opposite,  its  marble  walls 
and  glittering  roof  kindled  into  flame  by  the  setting  sun. 
Doubtless  He  gazed  with  mournful  tenderness  on  His  Fa- 
ther's house  and  on  the  city  of  the  great  King,  doomed  to 
a  destruction  so  fearful.  There  prophets  and  kings  had 
lived,  desiring  to  see  His  day,  but  had  died  without  seeing 
it.  There  the  blood  of  many  saints  had  been  shed ;  and 
there  He  Himself  was  about  to  be  condemned  and  crucified. 
The  end  was  come ;  His  baptism  was  about  to  be  accom- 
plished ;  but  He  gazed  on  the  city  where  His  enemies 
were  at  that  moment  plotting  His  murder,  with  pity  and 
sorrow. 

While  He  was  thus  sitting,  four  of  His  disciples,  Peter 
and  Andrew,  James  and  John,  came  to  Him  privately, — 
their  fellow-disciples  having  probably  continued  their  walk 
to  Bethany.  "Tell  us,"  they  said,  "when  shall  these  things 
be  ?  And  what  shall  be  the  signs  of  thy  coming,  and  of 
the  end  of  the  world?"  Let  us  endeavor  to  occupy  their 
stand-point ;  to  enter  into  their  circle  of  ideas ;  to  com- 
I^rehend  their  views  concerning  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
the  comino'  of  the  Lord  as  related  to  that  kinij^dom,  to  the 
destruction  of  Jerusnlem,  and  to  the  end  of  the  world.  It 
is  evident  that  their  ideas  were  confused,  and  their 
expectations  vague.  They  saw  that  according  to  the 
Prophet  Zechariah,  awful  judgments  on  Jerusalem  were 
to  be  poured  out  at  the  time  of  the  Messiah's  personal 
appearing  to  set  up  His  kingdom  j  but  they  knew  nothing 


THE    PliOPDETIC;    DISCUUKSE.  045 

of  a  dispensation  to  intervene  between  ilie  destniclion 
of  the  temple  and  His  coming.  They  naturally  looki-tl 
for  the  glory  m  close  connection  with  the  judgment. 
They  did  not  understand  the  death  and  resurrection  of 
Jesus;  but  expected  His  personal  manifestation — His 
glorious  appearing, — without  His  dying.  They  therefore 
asked  iclien  the  judgment  should  be  executed,  and  what 
precursors  of  His  glorious  coming  would  be  given. 

Our  Lord,  in  His  reply,  as  His  way  ever  was,  gave 
to  His  discourse  an  eminently  practical  character.  He 
sought  to  guard  them  against  the  temptations  and  perils 
to  which  they  would  be  exposed,  rather  than  to  satisfy 
their  curiosity  by  mapping  out  the  future  with  chrono- 
logical precision.  And  there  were  many  things  at  that 
time,  when  the  Spirit  was  not  yet  given,  concerning  which 
He  could  not  speak  to  them  plainly ;  the  great  scheme 
of  the  divine  purposes  they  were  as  yet  unable  to  com- 
prehend. He  Himself  foresaw  the  speedy  overthrow  of 
that  dispensation,  and  the  approach  of  another,  at  the 
close  of  which  His  coming  in  power  and  glory  should 
take  place.  He  knew,  too,  that  the  Jewish  dispensation 
was  typical  of  the  Christian,  and  that  the  events  pre- 
ceding the  overthrow  of  the  former,  would  foreshow 
what  should  come  to  pass  in  the  last  days  of  the  latter. 
Our  Lord  therefore  constructed  His  discourse  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  spiritual  perspective,  by  which  all  prophetic  ut- 
terances have  a  largeness  of  meaning,  reaching  beyond 
the  foreground  into  the  distance  of  the  remote  future. 
Lord  Bacon's  principle  of  a  "springing  and  germinant  ful- 
fillment" is  especially  applicable  to  this  discourse.  Jesus 
undoubtedly  spoke  of  tlie  events  of  that  time — otherwise 
He  gave  no  answer  to  the  questions  of  the  disciples ;  but 
His  words  also  swept  all  the  ages,  down  to  the  consumma- 
tion of  all  things.  While,  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  dis- 
course, the  ending  of  the  Jewish  dispensation  is  especially 


646  TUE    LIFE    OF    CUIUST. 

prominent,  the  words  employed  are,  on  the  principle  juHC 
stated,  applicable  also  to  the  ending  of  the  Christian  age. 

He  begins  by  warning  the  disciples  against  spiritual 
seducers  who  would  come  in  His  name,  saying,  I  am 
Christ.  He  tells  them  that  before  the  end,  they  would 
witness  fearful  agitations  of  nature,  such  as  earthquakes 
in  divers  places;  that  dreadful  sufferings  would  result 
from  famines  and  pestilences ;  that  there  would  be  great 
commotions  in  human  society,  nation  rising  against  na- 
tion, and  kingdom  against  kingdom ;  and  that  desolating 
wars  would  sweep  over  the  earth ;  that  there  would  be 
bloody  persecutions,  marked  by  apostasy,  treachery,  and 
cruel  massacres ;  that  lawlessness  would  abound,  and  that 
in  consequence  the  love  of  many  would  grow  cold ;  and 
that  all  this  would  be  but  the  beginning  of  sorrows.  He 
speaks  of  long-continued  trials  and  judgments ;  but  He 
w^arns  them  that  the  end  is  not  yet.  All  these  things 
would  precede  His  coming ;  all  these  things  would  he 
tokens  of  the  apiwoaching  end  of  the  world.  It  ought  to 
be  noted,  that  thus  far  our  Lord  has  only  specified  such 
calamities  and  judgments  as  have  marked  the  history  of 
the  world  in  every  age  and  in  all  lands.  He  has  spoken 
of  those  phenomena  of  nature,  and  those  manifestations 
of  human  depravity,  which  are  in  themseh'cs  indications 
of  the  instability  of  the  present  order  of  things,  and 
therefore  signs  of  the  end  of  the  world.  This  part  of 
the  discourse  corresponds  to  the  travail  and  groaning  of 
the  creation,  and  to  the  shaking  of  the  heavens  and  earth 
spoken  of  by  the  apostle  Paul  as  signs  of  the  new  birth 
of  the  universe,  and  the  establishment  of  an  indestructible 
kingdom.* 

Our  Lord  now  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  judgments 
which  should  come  on  Jerusalem  and  the  Jewish  nation. 

*  Ptomaos  viii.  18-25 ;  Hebrews  xii.  26-28. 


THE    PROPHETIC    DISCOURSE.  C47 

These  He  places  among  the  precursors  of  His  comino-; 
though  He  nowhere  intimates  that  He  would  c(.)nie  at  the 
time  of  the  destruction  which  He  foretells  in  such  graphic 
and  impressive  language.  What  the  prophet  Daniel  had 
foretold,  the  standing  of  the  abomination  of  desolation 
in  the  Holj  Place,  and  the  encompassing  of  the  cit^-  with 
camps  and  armies,  should  be  a  warning  to  the  disciples  to 
flee  to  the  mountains.  This  flight  was. to  be  made  in  the 
greatest  haste,  to  escape  the  most  terrible  affliction  which 
ever  had  been,  or  should  ever  be.  The  third  time,  and 
with  still  greater  urgency,  does  the  Lord  warn  His  people 
against  false  christs  and  false  prophets,  who  should  work 
great  signs  and  wonders  to  draw  men  into  the  wilderness, 
or  into  the  secret  chambers,  to  find  Him.  Against  these 
snares  and  perils  He  gives  them  this  safeguard,  that  the 
coming  of  the  Son  of  man  would  be  as  lightning  which 
Cometh  from  the  east  and  shineth  unto  the  west.  It  will 
be  no  secret  coming  to  a  place  on  the  earth  to  which  men 
may  retire,  but  quick,  sudden,  unannounced, — flashing  in 
its  brightness  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other.  He 
says  to  the  disciples,  in  eflect.  Give  no  heed  to  those  who 
tell  you  that  I  have  already  come  secretly ;  for  you  will 
have  no  need  of  any  message  to  apprise  you  of  My  ad- 
vent. You  will  rejoin  Me  by  no  process  of  earthly  jour- 
neying ,•  for  as  the  eagles  fly  from  far  to  the  carcass,  so 
you  will  be  caught  away  from  the  earth  to  meet  Me  at 
My  coming.  He  did  not  say  when  this  should  be,  but  He 
set  forth  the  manner  of  His  advent,  to  guard  them  against 
deceivers  pretending  that  Christ  had  already  come. 

This  brings  us  down  to  Matthew  xxiv.  29:  "Immedi- 
ately after  the  tribulation  of  those  days  shall  the  sun  be 
darkened,"  etc.  Turning  to  Luke,  Ave  find  several  addi- 
tional particulars  given,  which  throw  great  light  on  i\\o 
order  of  events:  "For  there  shall  be  great  distress  in  the 
land,  and  wrath  upon  this  people.     And  they  shall  fall  by 


G48  THE   LIFE    OF    CHEIST. 

the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  shall  be  led  away  captive  into 
all  nations,  and  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the 
Gentiles  until  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled.  And 
then  shall  there  be  signs  in  the  sun,  and  in  the  moon, 
and  in  the  stars,"  etc.*  Here  it  is  distinctly  declared  that 
the  "tribulation  of  those  days"  should  continue  during 
the  dispersion  of  the  Jews,  and  the  desecration  of  the 
Holy  City  by  Gentile  feet.  The  "  times  of  the  Gentiles  "— 
the  Gentile-Christian  dispensation — must  be  accomplished 
j)revious  to  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man.  Between  the 
twenty-ninth  verse  of  Matthew  xxiv.  and  the  preceding 
part  of  the  chapter,  there  comes  in  the  freseni  iwoi:)httlc 
jieriod,  marked  by  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  and  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles.  Jesus  had  al- 
ready (verse  14,)  declared  that  before  His  advent,  the 
gospel  should  be  preached  in  all  the  world,  for  a  witness 
unto  all  nations. 

The  word  rendered  ^^immediately"  {qidcMy,)^  bridges 
over  the  chasm  between  the  endings  of  the  two  dispen- 
sations. Soon  after  the  great  tribulation,  certain  signs 
shall  be  seen  in  heaven.  Such  expressions  must  be  un- 
derstood in  a  large  sense,  according  to  the  usage  of 
prophecy.  In  a  later  part  of  this  very  discourse  our  Lord 
declares  that  the  time  of  His  coming  was  unknown,  not 
only  to  men  and  angels,  but  also  to  the  Son  Himself;  and 
He  disthictly  intimates,  in  a  series  of  parables,  that  there 
would  be  what  men  would  regard  as  a  long  delay.  Yet 
He  spoke  of  His  coming  as  always  near,  as  at  hand,  as  at 
the  door ;  and  He  commanded  His  disciples  to  watch  for 
it,  as  an  event  always  imminent.  "Surely,  I  come  quicl'h/," 
was  the  last  word  of  the  ascended  Lord  to  His  church, — 
a  woid  spoken  at  the  close  of  the  Apocalypse  which  had 
disclosed  a  long  series  of  events  to  precede  His  advent. 

Luke  xxi.  23-25.  t  Matthew  xxiv.  29. 


THE    PROPHETIC   DISCOURSE.  049 

This  word  "  immediately"  expresses,  therefore,  a  prophetic 
consciousness  of  time,  in  wliich  remote  events  are  realized 
as  close  at  hand,  or  really  present;  but  they  are  not  in- 
tended to  set  up  an  exact  chronological  standard.  The 
signs  specified  are  those  which  shall  be  seen  before  the 
judgment  on  the  christian  apostasy  as  described  in  tlie 
Apocalypse,  at  the  opening  of  the  sixth  seal.  They  will 
probably  be  both  physical  and  spiritual;  spiritual  first,  as 
addressed  to  a  spiritual  people,  able  to  discern  the  signs 
of  the  times ;  afterwards  physical,  to  strike  the  senses  of 
the  world.  The  sign  of  the  Son  of  man,  which  will  be 
seen  in  heaven,  just  as  the  Lord  Himself  is  about  to  ap- 
pear, is  probably  that  cloud  of  glory  in  which  He  will 
come,  and  into  which  He  wiU  gather  His  risen  and  glori- 
fied saints.  This  glory  in  mid-heaven  will  be  awful  and 
appalling  to  the  nations.  Then  shall  the  judgment  angels, 
with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet,  gather  together  His  elect 
from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other. 
Thus  our  Lord  has  sketched,  in  prophetic  style,  the 
whole  period  from  the  time  of  His  crucifixion  to  that  of 
His  second  coming.  He  has  set  forth  the  signs  of  His 
appearing,  but  He  has  not  answered  the  question,  when 
these  things  should  be.  For  aught  the  disciples  knew 
from  His  words,  He  might  come  in  a  few  years,  or  a  few 
centuries.  Returning  now  to  their  question,  (Matthew 
xxiv.  32-36,)  He  does  indeed  give  them  a  note  of  time, 
but  rather  to  the  spiritual  sense  than  to  the  intellect: 
"Now  learn  a  parable  of  the  fig-tree;  When  her  branch 
is  yet  tender,  and  putteth  forth  leaves,  ye  know  that 
summer  is  nigh.  So  likewise  ye,  when  ye  see  all  these 
THINGS,  know  that  it  is  near,  even  at  the  doors.  Yerily, 
I  say  unto  you,  This  generation  shall  not  pass  away,  till 
all  these  things  be  fulfilled.  Heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away ;  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away.  But  of 
that   day  and  that  hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not  the 


650  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

angels  which  are  in  heaven,  neither  the  Son,  but  the 
Father."  These  words  are  perplexing  only  to  those  who 
do  not  really  read  them.  As  the  swelling  buds  and 
opening  leaves  of  the  fig  tree  were  a  sign  that  summer 
was  near,  (not  already  come,)  so  the  events  which  our 
Lord  had  foretold  as  the  precursors  of  His  coming,  were 
to  be  a  sign  that  it  (His  coming)  was  near.  Those 
events  therefore  did  not  include  His  coming;  but  when 
the  disciples  saw  "  these  things  "  they  were  to  look  for 
"it."  Lest,  however,  they  should  understand  Him  as 
speaking  with  chronological  precision,  He  adds  that  the 
exact  time  was  known  only  to  the  Father.  When  Jesus 
said  that  that  generation  should  not  pass  away  till  all 
those  things  should  be  fulfilled.  He  did  not  say  that  His 
coming  should  take  place  within  the  life-time  of  that 
generation,  but  that  the  signs  of  it  should  appear.  He 
did  not  say  that  the  summer  should  come,  but  that  the 
fig-tree  should  bud.  No  doubt  the  budding  of  the  fig-tree 
should  be  speedily  followed  by  the  summer;  but  as  there 
is  sometimes  an  anomalous  season,  in  which  the  untimely 
frosts  of  spring  long  retard  the  summer,  so  the  advent 
of  the  Lord  and  His  reign  —  the  glorious  summer  of 
the  universe, — may  be  delayed  by  the  unbelief  or  apos- 
tasy of  the  visible  church.  The  Bridegroom  can  not 
come  till  the  Bride  shall  have  made  herself  ready. 

AVliat  that  generation  saw  was  the  signs  of  the  Lord's 
coming.  Every  cycle  of  those  signs  —  agitations  of  ma- 
terial nature,  disturbances  and  overturnings  in  human  so- 
ciety, the  persecution  of  the  sahits,  the  appearance  of  flilse 
christs  and  false  prophets,  the  destruction  of  the  Holy  City, 
of  the  temple,  and  of  the  Jewish  nationality,  the  great 
tribulation  in  its  first  terrible  blows — all  was  fulfilled 
ere  some  who  heard  the  prophecy  passed  off  the  stage. 
But  they  did  not  see  the  whole  course  of  the  Gentile 
dispensation,  and  the  events  attending  its  winding   up. 


THE    PKOPHETIC   DISCOURSE.  651 

They  did  not  see  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven ; 
they  did  not  see  Him  coming  in  power  and  glory. 

Our  Lord  next  charges  the  disciples  to  be  watchlul.  He 
tells  them  that  His  advent  would  come  upon  the  world  as 
suddenly  as  the  flood  in  the  time  of  Noah.  "As  a  snare 
shall  it  come  on  all  them  that  dwell  on  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth.  Watch  ye,  therefore,  and  pray  always,  that 
ye  may  be  accounted  worthy  to  escape  all  those  things  that 
shall  come  to  pass,  and  to  stand  before  the  Son  of  man."  * 
Next  follows  a  solemn  admonition  to  the  rulers  of  the 
church.  While  the  servant  who  puts  for  off  his  Lord's 
coming,  and  is  therefore  a  spiritual  tyrant,  or  a  self-indul- 
gent reveler,  shall  be  fearfully  punished,  the  faithful  and 
wise  servant  shall  be  set  over  all  his  Master's  inheritance. 

Having  thus  spoken  of  the  judgment  on  the  rulers, 
Jesus  proceeds  to  speak  of  the  church  as  a  hocly.  The 
difference  between  the  wise  and  foolish  was  not  that  some 
were  genuine  Christians  and  the  others  hypocrites ;  but 
that  the  wise  had  received  a  full  supply  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  while  the  foolish  had  not  sought  such  a  supph^, 
thinking  that  they  needed  only  the  grace  necessary  for  a 
religious  life.  They  had  oil  in  their  lamps,  but  no  oil  in 
their  vessels  for  their  lamps;  so  that  when  the  demand 
arose  for  an  extra  quantity  they  were  destitute.  The  par- 
able implies  that  over  and  above  the  operations  of  ihe 
Spirit  in  the  production  of  faith  and  a  righteous  life, 
there  was  need  of  special  grace  to  prepare  them  for  the 
Lord's  coming.  "Go  ye  to  them  that  sell  and  buy  for 
yourselves."  They  were  not  forever  excluded  from  the 
kingdom  of  God,  but  their  lack  of  instant  preparation 
subjected  them  to  temporary  sorrow  and  shame. 

Next  follow^s  the  para1)le  of  the  Talents,  which  teaches 
the  right  use  of  spiritual  gifts,  and  the  sin  of  neglecting 


*Luke  xxi.  25,  2G. 


652  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

to  improve  them.  Our  Lord  having  thus  shown  the 
judgment  on  the  church  and  its  rulers,  at  His  coming, 
goes  on  to  speak  of  Ills  judgment  on  the  nations.  The 
parable  of  the  sheep  and  goats,  (a  parable  only  in  the 
imagery  of  the  opening  sentences,)  sets  forth  the  princi- 
ples on  which  God  w^ill  judge  the  nations  that  shall  be 
alive  at  His  coming.  This  premillennial  judgment,  how- 
ever, in  accordance  with  the  law  of  prophetic  perspective 
already  alluded  to,  is  spoken  of  as  the  type  of  the  final 
judgment  of  all  mankind,  when  the  wicked  shall  be  sent 
away  into  everlasting  punishment  and  the  righteous  re- 
warded wdth  life  eternal. 


CHAPTER    VII. 
THE  CONSPIRATORS   AND  THE  TRAITOR. 

FEELIXG  OF  JEWISH  LEADERS — AXXAS  AND  CAIAPIIAS  —  SECRET  MEETING 
OP  THE  SANHEDRIM — JUDAS  ISCARIOT — HE  COVENANTS  TO  BETRAY 
JESUS. 

Matthew  xsvi.  1-5;  1-1-16.    Makk  xiv.  1-3;  10, 11.    Luke  x.xii.  1-6. 

After  Jesus  left  the  temple  and  went  to  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  His  enemies,  wrought  up  to  the  liighest  pitch  of 
rage  by  His  terrible  rebukes,  felt  the  need  of  immediate 
action.  During  the  last  few  weeks  a  series  of  events  had 
occurred  which  left  them  no  alternative  but  to  concede 
the  claims  of  Jesus  or  put  Him  out  of  the  way.  The 
raising  of  Lazarus  had  been  followed  by  the  public  proc- 
lamation of  our  Lord  as  the  Christ;  by  His  triumphal 
entry  into  the  city  amidst  the  shouts  of  the  people  and 
the  hosannas  of  the  children ;  by  His  expulsion  of  the 
buyers  and  sellers  from  the  sacred  courts  of  the  temple  : 
and  by  those  thunder-claps  of  denunciation  which  fell 
upon  their  ears  like  the  voice  of  doom.  They  felt  that 
the  power  of  the  hierarchy,  if  not  its  ver}^  existence,  was 
menaced.  Perhaps,  too,  there  were  those  among  them 
who,  while  comparatively  indifferent  to  religious  questions, 
were  anxious  touching  the  relations  of  the  nation  to  the 
Romans.  Such  persons  might  view  the  great  religious 
movement  of  which  Jesus  was  the  head,  with  genuine 
alarm.  He  was  widely  proclaimed  as  a  Ic'tng,  and  though 
He   declared  that    His    kingdom  was  spiritual,  perhaps 


654  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

they  distrusted  His  sincerity;  they  certainly  knew  the 
tendency  of  every  such  movement  to  social  and  civil 
revolution ;  and,  in  any  case,  they  had  no  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  their  Eoman  masters  Avould  be  careful  to  dis- 
criminate between  a  purely  spiritual  kingship  and  one 
that  threatened  political  convulsion  and  war. 

There  were  living,  at  that  time,  a  few  men  of  eminent 
political  sagacit}^,  belonging  to  the  highest  rank,  who 
made  it  their  chief  study  to  secure  the  favor  of  the 
Romans,  without  exposing  themselves  to  the  hatred  of 
their  own  countrymen.  They  had  a  difficult  game  to 
pla}^,  and  for  many  years  they  played  it  with  extraor- 
dinary skill  and  success.  Two  men  of  this  description 
become  conspicuous  figures  in  this  part  of  our  history; 
Annas,  or  Ananus,  and  his  son-in-law,  Joseph  Caiaphas, 
the  high  priest  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken.  The 
former,  who  was  the  son  of  one  Seth,  had  more  than 
twenty  years  before  been  appointed  high  priest  b}^  Qui- 
rinus,  the  imperial  governor  of  Sj'ria ;  but  after  hold- 
ing the  office  some  seven  years,  was  removed  by  Valerius 
Gratus,  procurator  of  Judea,  to  make  room  for  a  certain 
Ishmael,  who  after  a  short  period  was  succeeded  by  Simon 
the  son  of  Annas.  After  a  brief  administration,  Simon 
gave  place  to  his  brother-in-law,  Caiaphas,  who  was  ele- 
vated to  the  high  priesthood  about  A.  D.  25.,  not  long 
before  our  Lord  entered  on  His  public  ministry.  Annas, 
during  all  these  changes,  seems  to  have  retained  the  title 
of  High  Priest,  and  with  the  title  the  substance  of  the 
power  belonging  to  the  office.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
force  of  character,  and  a  shrewd,  experienced  politician. 
It  was  his  interest  to  keep  things  as  they  were,  to  prevent 
popular  agitations,  and  to  avoid  whatever  might  give  of- 
fense or  ground  of  suspicion  to  the  Romans.  He  had 
probably  kept  aloof  from  Jesus  until  now,  perhaps  regard- 
ing Him  as  a  harmless  Galilean  enthusiast  whose  career 


THE    CONSPIRATORS    AND    THE    TRAITOR.  655 

would  soon  terminate  of  itself;  but  now  he  thought  the 
time  had  come  for  him  to  interfere.  It  was  a  rare  oppor- 
tunity to  show  his  fidelity  to  his  Roman  masters,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  gratify  the  blood-thirsty  fanaticism  of 
the  Pharisees,  who  were  determined  that  Jesus  should  die. 
Caiaphas  seems  to  have  been  the  crafty  and  zealous  tool 
of  his  father-in-law,  and  stood  ready  to  execute  all  his 
plans.  Annas,  more  than  any  other  man,  was  master  of 
the  situation. 

When  our  Lord  left  the  temple,  as  has  been  narrated, 
and  went  to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  the  members  of  the  San- 
hedrim, of  which  Caiaphas  was  president,  were  summoned 
to  an  extraordinary  conclave,  not  in  the  council-chamber, 
on  the  temple-mount,  but  at  the  palace  of  Caiaphas. 
Where  this  was  situated  is  by  no  means  certain.  Tradi- 
tion locates  it  on  the  Mount  of  Offense,  a  little  south-east 
of  the  city,  where  the  ruins  of  the  house  of  Caiaphas  are 
still  shown.  The  tradition  can  not  be  traced  to  early 
times ;  but  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  tomb  of  Annas 
has  been  discovered  in  the  same  neighborhood.  While  it 
is  unquestionable  that  the  high  priest  had  a  palace  in  Je- 
rusalem, it  is  not  unlikely  that  he  had  a  country  house 
within  easy  distance,  where  he  usually  resided.  Such  a 
house  would  be  especially  eligible  as  a  place  for  secret 
consultation.  For  the  purpose  of  gaining  a  vivid  impres- 
sion of  what  took  place  at  this  meeting  we  may  well  as- 
sume that  tradition,  on  this  particular  point,  has  not  erred. 

Let  us  picture  to  ourselves  the  events  of  this  memora- 
ble evening.  Soon  after  Jesus  left  the  temple  and  crossed 
the  brook  Kedron,  the  members  of  the  Sanhedrim,  one 
after  another,  passed  out  of  the  same  gate,  but  soon  turned 
from  the  road  up  the  Mount  of  Olives  to  the  right,  and 
ascended  a  hill  which  lay  further  to  the  south — a  hill  then 
covered  with  villas  and  gardens,  now  with  ruins.  Jesus 
therefore  sat  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  at  the  same  time 


656  TUE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

that  His  enemies  were  plotting  His  death  on  the  neigh- 
boring eminence.  How  to  accomphsh  their  j)nrpose  with- 
out creating  a  tumult  among  the  people  was  the  problem. 
Jerusalem  was  full  of  people  who  had  come  up  to  attend 
the  feast;  and  among  the  multitude  were  many  of  Christ's 
own  disciples  from  Galilee.  To  arrest  Him  in  public  would 
endanger  the  j^eace  of  the  city,  and  thus  offend  the  Ro- 
man authorities.  The  essential  condition  of  success  in 
their  horrible  conspiracy  was,  that  the  blow  should  be 
secret  and  sudden,  that  Jesus  should  be  seized  while  in 
seclusion,  and  if  possible  in  the  night,  and  that  His  death 
should  follow  swiftly  on  His  condemnation.  The  Pass- 
over was  at  hand  ;  only  one  more  day  would  elapse  before 
the  feast ;  it  seemed  on  many  accounts  undesirable  that 
He  should  be  put  to  death  on  the  great  day  of  the  feast ; 
and  there  scarcely  seemed  to  be  time  to  bring  it  about 
sooner.  They  had  not  reached  any  definite  conclusion 
when  their  conference  was  interrupted  by  a  most  un- 
looked-for arrival. 

Judas  Iscariot  had  become  gradually  alienated  from 
Jesus ;  and  he  had  been  more  conscious  than  ever,  since 
the  anointing  at  the  house  of  Simon,  that  Jesus  thoroughly 
understood  his  character.  What  his  views  were  when  he 
first  became  a  disciple  is  doubtful.  It  is  difficult  to  be- 
lieve that  he  was  at  that  time  hostile  to  Jesus.  It  is  on 
the  other  hand  probable  that,  having  witnessed  our  Lord's 
miracles,  he  really  believed  in  His  Messiahship  ;  and  that, 
for  a  considerable  period,  he  confidently  expected  to  see 
Him  ascend  the  throne  of  David.  But  his  views  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  were  carnal  and  worldly ;  and  as  the 
character  and  aims  of  Christ  became  more  clearly  devel- 
oped, as  the  spiritual  nature  of  His  reign  became"  more 
and  more  pronounced,  and  as  the  breach  between  Him 
and  the  visil^le  tlieocracy  became  wider  and  wider,  Judas, 
disappointed  and  perplexed,  grew  disaffected  towards  his 


THE    CONSPIRATORS    AND    THE    TRAITOR.  657 

Master.  When  at  length  it  became  clear  that  Jesus  read 
the  secrets  of  his  heart,  that  He  had  detected  his  master- 
passion,  avarice,  and  more  than  suspected  him  oi'  the 
shameful  sin  of  theft,  he  was  fdled  with  shame  and  fear, 
which  speedily  passed  into  hatred.  His  dark,  ferocious 
nature,  impelled  him  to  seek  revenge.  He  became  pos- 
sessed with  one  terrible  idea,  that  Jesus  must  die.  He 
was  hurried  along  b}^  a  sort  of  demoniac  fury.  The  voice 
of  conscience  was  drowned ;  his  heart  was  turned  to 
stone;  all  remembrance  of  the  mighty  works  and  gracious 
words  and  innocent  life  of  his  Master  was,  for  the  mo- 
ment, obliterated ;  and  he  abandoned  himself  to  the  Sa- 
tanic influence  by  which  he  was  swept  away.  But  even 
in  the  tempest  of  his  rage,  his  ruling  passion  asserted  its 
power.  Determined  as  he  was  to  betray  the  Lord,  he  re- 
solved, if  possible,  to  sell  his  treason  for  money. 

Judas  had  kept  his  eye  on  the  enemies  of  Jesus ;  he 
had  watched  their  movements,  and  by  force  of  sympathy 
had  penetrated  their  designs.  He  knew  that  the  crisis 
was  at  hand ;  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  he  had  seen  the 
members  of  the  Sanhedrim,  singly  or  in  groups,  on  their 
way  to  the  house  of  Caiaphas.  We  conjecture  that  after 
Jesus  and  the  four  disciples  turned  off  from  the  road  to 
Bethany  to  ascend  the  Mount  of  Olives,  Judas,  detaching 
himself  from  the  other  apostles,  turned  to  the  right  and 
ascended  the  Mount  of  Offense.  Presenting  himself  at 
the  door  of  the  High  Priest's  house,  he  was  admitted. 
His  appearance,  when  it  was  known  that  he  was  an 
apostle  of  the  Nazarene,  doubtless  made  a  sensation.  But 
when  he  said  to  them,  "  What  will  3'e  give  me,  and  I  will 
deliver  Him  imto  you?" — they  were  filled  with  glad  sur- 
prise. As  his  demands  were  moderate,  there  was  but 
little  haggling  about  the  price.  "  They  covenanted  with 
him  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver." 

42 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
THE  PASSOVER. 

THE  PREPARATION — THE  SUPPER. 

Matthew  xxvi.  17-35.    Maek  siv.  12-31.    Luke  xsii.  7-38.    John  xiu.  1-38. 

"We  have  brought  clown  the  history  of  our  Lord  to  the 
close  of  the  third  day  (Tuesday)  of  Passion  AVeek.  At 
the  close  of  His  discourse  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  He 
probably  retired  to  the  house  of  His  friends  in  Bethany. 
The  next  day,  Wednesday,  seems  to  have  been  spent  in 
seclusion.  The  inspired  record  has  draAvn  a  veil  over  that 
day  which  we  shall  not  attempt  to  raise.  On  Thursday 
the  disciples  asked  Him  where  they  should  prepare  the 
Passover  feast.  On  the  afternoon  of  that  day,  "  between 
the  evenings,"  that  is  to  say,  from  an  hour  or  two  before 
sunset  till  dark,  the  paschal  lamb  was  to  be  killed ;  and 
as  yet,  it  seems,  the  Master  had  given  no  order  touching 
the  place,  or  the  needful  preparation.  Now,  however, 
He  directed  Peter  and  John  to  go  into  the  city,  instruct- 
ing them  when  they  should  meet  a  man  bearing  a  pitcher 
of  water,  to  follow  him  to  his  house,  and  say,  "  The  Mas- 
ter saith  unto  thee.  Where  is  the  guest-chamber,  where  I 
shall  eat  the  Passover  with  My  disciples?"  It  seems 
probable  that  Jesus  had  intimated  His  purpose  to  one  of 
His  disciples  in  Jerusalem — Joseph  of  Arimathea,  per- 
haps, or  Nicodemus — to  celebrate  the  feast  at  his  house  ; 
but  His  directions  to  the  two  disciples  evince  a  super- 
natural prevision,  like  tlint  displayed  in  the  preparations, 
a  few  days  before,  for  His  triumphal  entry.     Peter  and 


THE    PASSOVER.  059 

John  found  everything  as  was  predicted ;  and  they  made 
ready  the  Passover. 

In  order  that  we  may  understand  the  events  of  this 
memorable  evening,  it  is  requisite  that  the  design  of  the 
Passover  feast,  and  the  mode  of  its  celebration,  should  Ijc 
briefly  explained.  The  institution  of  the  Passover  is  re- 
corded in  Exodus  xii.  The  Israelites  were  ready  to  leave 
the  land  of  their  long  and  bitter  bondage.  The  Egx-p- 
tians  had  been  appalled  and  crushed  by  a  terrible  series 
of  judgments,  now  about  to  culminate  in  the  simultaneous 
destruction  of  their  first-born.  On  the  tenth  of  the 
month  Abib,  every  Hebrew  householder  was  to  select  a 
lamb,  or  a  kid,  without  spot  or  blemish,  and  on  the  four- 
teenth, at  evening,  the  animal  was  to  be  slain.  The  blood 
was  to  be  sprinkled,  with  hyssop,  on  the  door-posts,  as  a 
sign  to  the  destroying  angel  that  the  household  was  un- 
der divine  protection.  The  lamb  was  to  be  roasted  whole, 
care  beino;  taken  not  to  break  a  bone.  It  was  then  to  be 
eaten  by  the  people  standing,  with  girded  loins,  with  shoes 
on  their  feet  and  staves  in  their  hands.  The  bread  was 
to  be  unleavened,  and  was  to  be  eaten  with  bitter  herbs. 

While  the  substance  of  this  festival  was  perpetuated, 
the  mode  of  celebrating  it  was  afterwards  considerably 
modified.  The  use  of  hyssop,  the  sprinkling  of  the  door- 
posts with  blood,  the  standing  posture,  the  girding  of  tlie 
loins,  the  staves,  etc.,  w^ere  omitted ;  and  the  following 
mode  of  observance  was  ordained: — On  the  fourteenth 
day  of  the  month  Nisan,  every  house  was  to  be  purged 
of  every  vestige  of  leaven.  Every  male,  not  ceremoni- 
ally unclean,  was  to  appear  before  the  Lord  at  the  na- 
tional sanctuary,  and  present  an  offering  of  money  in 
proportion  to  his  ability  As  the  sun  was  setting  tlie 
lamb  was  to  be  slain,  and  the  blood  and  fat  given  to 
the  priests.  The  lamb  was  then  to  l3c  roasted  whole, 
and  eaten  with  unleavened  bread  and  bitter  herbs.     No 


660  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

portion  was  to  be  left  till  the  morning ;  but  the  boftes 
and  tendons  were  to  be  utterly  consumed  with  fire.  The 
same  night,  the  fat  was  to  be  burned  by  the  priest  and 
the  blood  sprinkled  on  the  altar.  It  was  ordained  that 
the  next  day, — or  as  the  Jews  reckoned  time,  the  same 
day,  after  the  night  was  passed, — there  should  be  a  holy 
convocation,  signalized  by  special  sacrifices,  and  more 
joj'ous  festivities.  It  was  on  this  day  that  the  harvest 
was  consecrated  by  the  waving  of  the  first  sheaf  before 
the  Lord.  In  process  of  time  the  entire  week  became 
one  great  Passover  feast,  and  was  popularly  so  called. 

In  the  time  of  Christ  the  above  order  was  substan- 
tially observed.  The  lamb,  having  been  slain  at  the 
temple,  was  roasted  whole  ;  the  unleavened  bread  and 
bitter  herbs  were  placed  on  the  table,  around  which 
the  company  sat  or  reclined,  the  master  of  the  household 
taking  the  place  of  honor.  All  things  being  in  readiness, 
THE  FiEST  CUP  OF  wiXE  was  filled  and  a  blessins;  was 
asked  on  the  feast.  The  bitter  herbs  were  then  eaten, 
and  the  unleavened  bread  was  handed  round.  Then  the 
SECOND  CUP  was  filled,  and  the  head  of  the  family,  in 
response  to  a  prescribed  question,*  explained  the  mean- 
ing of  the  feast,  gave  an  account  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
Israelites  in  Egypt  and  of  their  deliverance,  with  a  par- 
ticular explanation  of  Deuteronomy  xxvi.  5.  The  first 
part  of  the  Hallel  (Psalms  cxhi.,  cxiv.)  having  been  sung, 
the  lamb  was  placed  on  the  table,  carved  and  eaten. 
Then  followed  the  third  cup  of  wine,  and  soon  after 
THE  FOURTH.  The  feast  was  then  concluded  by  singing 
the  second  part  of  the  Hallel,  (Psalms  cxv.  to  cxviii.)t 

The  significance  of  the  Passover,  as  a  type,  is  most  im- 
portant.   It  carried  a  twofold  aspect ; — it  was  both  sad  and 

*  Exodus  xil  26. 

t  This  account  of  tlio  Passover  is  condensed  from  the  learned  article  in 
Smith's  Bihlc  Dictionary. 


THE   PASSOYEU.  661 

joyous;  it  bore  the  reminiscence  of  a  fearful  doom  and  of 
a  gracious  deliverance.  The  judgment  on  the  first-born 
in  Egypt  was  pronounced  on  Israelites  as  well  as  Egjp- 
tians;  all  were  alike  exposed  to  the  destroying  an«-el; 
all  were  accounted  guilty  and  none  could  claim  exemp- 
tion on  the  ground  of  justice.  In  mercy  God  provided 
that  every  Hebrew  householder  might  offer  a  lamb,  as  a 
sin-offering,  in  lieu  of  the  first-born  under  sentence  of 
death.  The  blood  of  the  innocent  victims,  sprinkled  on 
the  door-posts,  should  make  atonement,  and  be  accepted 
as  a  substitute  for  the  life  of  the  son  and  heir.  The  de- 
stroying angel,  seeing  the  blood,  should  pass  over  the 
household.  The  lamb  thus  sacrificed  was  to  be  roasted 
and  eaten ;  thus  the  feast  was  a  feast  upon  a  sacrifice — a 
covenant  feast — a  feast  of  reconciliation  and  thanksirivin"-. 

The  paschal  lamb  has  been  regarded  by  the  church  in 
every  age  as  a  striking  type  of  Christ.  "  Christ  our  Pas.s- 
over,"  says  the  apostle,  "  is  sacrificed  for  us."  He,  the 
Lamb  of  God,  was  offered  to  avert  the  doom  which  rested 
on  the  human  family.  His  blood,  sprinkled  on  man's 
habitation,  the  earth,  turned  away  the  messenger  of  di- 
vine wrath,  and  arrested  the  destruction  of  the  race.  The 
Passover  feast  thus  pointed  forward  to  the  atoning  sacri- 
fice of  the  cross,  now  about  to  be  consummated.  Doubt- 
less Jesus  Himself  had  been  distinctly  conscious  of  the 
meaning  of  the  feast.  Year  after  year,  He  had  eaten  the 
paschal  victim  with  His  disciples,  knowing  that  He  was 
celebrating  His  own  approaching  death.  And  now  His 
last  Passover  had  come.  One  more  day  and  the  feast 
would  lose  all  significance ;  and,  as  a  divine  ordinance, 
be  superseded  by  another,  which,  through  all  ages,  would 
point  back  to  the  great  sacrifice  of  which  this  was  a  pro- 
phetic type.  In  this  view,  this  particular  Passover  is 
invested  with  touching  interest  and  grandeur. 

It  was  probably  not  yet  six  o'clock  when  Jesus,  with 


6G2  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

His  apostles,  entered  the  guest-chaniber  where  the  feast 
had  been  prepared.  When  the  hour  was  come  He  sat 
down  with  them.  His  words,  as  He  took  His  place  at 
the  board,  were  such  as  they  could  never  forget;  they 
smite  upon  our  hearts  with  divine  power  and  pathos : — 
"With  desire  I  have  desired  to  eat  this  Passover  w^itli 
you  before  I  suffer.  For  I  say  unto  you  I  will  not  any 
more  eat  thereof,  till  it  be  fulfilled  in  the  kingdom  of  God." 
Long  had  he  been  straitened  by  His  divine  longing, — I 
had  almost  said,  impatience, — for  the  baptism  of  blood  ; 
and  now,  knowing  that  it  was  to  come  upon  Him  ere  the 
close  of  this  Passover  day,  and  looking  bej^ond  the  cross 
and  the  sepulchre,  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  He  expressed 
His  satisfaction  at  the  fulfillment  of  His  intense  desire. 
Then  He  took  the  cup, — the  first  Passover  cup,— and  not 
drinking  of  it  Himself,  after  He  had  given  thanks.  He 
said  :  "  Take  this,  and  divide  it  among  yourselves.  For  I 
say  unto  ^^ou,  I  will  not  drink  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine, 
until  the  kingdom  of  God  shall  come."  No  earthly  re- 
freshment for  Him  at  such  a  moment  as  this !  The  shadow 
of  a  dreadful  woe  is  upon  His  soul ;  but  that  shadow  hides 
not  from  His  view  the  joy  that  is  set  before  Him.  He  will, 
in  that  kingdom  which  He  contemplates  as  near,  even  at 
the  doors,  drink  the  new  wine  with  His  people.  What 
that  wine  will  be  can  not  now  be  known ;  the  wine  of 
immortality,  the  wine  of  heaven,  the  feast  of  redeemed 
immortals,  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb,  will  only  be 
understood  by  those  who  sit  down  to  the  banquet.  The 
antepast  cheered  the  soul  of  the  Redeemer  on  the  eve  of 
His  passion. 

One  would  think  that  such  words  from  the  lips  of  Jesus, 
would  have  stilled,  if  not  extinguished,  all  selfish  passions 
in  the  hearts  of  the  apostles.  It  is  unutterably  mournful 
to  read  that  at  this  moment  a  strife  broke  out  among  them, 
which  of  them  should  be  accounted  the  greatest.    It  was  a 


THE    PASSOVER.  663 

question  which  had  often  before  caused  unseemly  conten- 
tion; and  now  it  probably  arose  while  they  were  taking 
their  places  at  the  table.  They  strove,  perhaps,  for  the 
places  of  honor,  near  the  Lord's  person.  There  may  have 
been  another  cause  of  strife.  It  was  probably  customary 
among  the  Jews,  either  just  before  or  immediately  after 
the  first  cup,  for  a  servant  to  wash  the  feet  of  the  guests — 
perhaps  also  their  hands.*  On  this  occasion  no  servant 
was  present  to  perform  the  ablution,  Avhich,  if  for  no  cere- 
monial reason,  may  have  been  necessary  after  their  walk ; 
and  none  of  the  disciples  were  ready,  in  the  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice,  to  render  the  needful  service.  Jesus,  grieved  at 
their  selfish  pride,  takes  occasion  to  set  forth  the  lowly 
spirit  of  His  kingdom  in  contrast  with  the  spirit  of  the 
world :  "  The  kings  of  the  Gentiles  exercise  lordship  over 
them ;  and  they  that  exercise  authority  upon  them  are 
called  benefactors.  But  ye  shall  not  be  so ;  but  he  that 
is  greatest  among  you,  let  him  be  as  the  younger ;  and 
he  that  is  chief,  as  he  that  doth  serve.  For  whether  is 
greater,  he  that  sitteth  at  meat,  or  he  that  serveth  ?  Is 
not  he  that  sitteth  at  meat  ?  But  I  am  among  vou  as  he 
that  serveth.  Ye  are  they  which  have  continued  with 
Me  in  My  temptations ;  and  I  ajopoint  unto  you  a  king- 
dom as  My  Father  hath  appointed  unto  Me,  that  ye  may 
eat  and  drink  at  My  table  in  My  kingdom,  and  sit  on 
thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel."  Having 
said  this  Jesus  proceeded  to  exemplify  its  spirit,  in  a  man- 
ner equally  touching  and  sublime.  While  supper  icas 
commencing.^  He  rose  from  the  table,  laid  aside  His  outer 
garment,  girded  Himself  with  a  towel,  and  then,  pouring 
water  into  a  basin,  began  to  wash  the  disciples'  feet.  All 
conjectures  in  respect  to  the  order  of  this  foot  washing 

*  This  is  not  certain ;  but  see  Lange's  "Life  of  Christ,"  vol.  4,  pp.  158, 159. 
t  So  John  xiii.  2,  ought  to  be  rendered. 


664  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

are  vain.  He  may  have  commenced  with  Peter ;  the 
narrative,  however,  does  not  say  so,  but  rather  suggests 
the  contrary.  Jesus  no  doubt  pursued  the  order  best  cal^. 
culated  to  subdue  that  passion  for  precedence  which  had 
gained  possession  of  their  hearts. 

When  the  turn  of  Peter  came,  he  was  overwhehned 
with  shame,  almost  with  indignation,  tliat  his  Lord,  whoni 
not  long  before  he  had  confessed  as  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
the  living  God,  should  perform  this  menial  ofiice  for  hiui 
and  his  fellow  ajDostles.  When  Jesus  approached  him  he 
drew  back  in  a  kind  of  horror:  "Lord,  dost  Thou  wash 
MY  feet?"  "What  I  do,"  Jesus  rephed,  "thou  knowest 
not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter."  Peter,  or 
rather  Simon,  carried  away  by  what  he  mistook  for  rev- 
erent humility,  broke  forth  in  language  of  generous  but 
wilful  affection — an  affection  that  savored  of  this  world 
rather  than  of  God:  "Thou  shalt  never  wash  my  feet." 
Jesus  repressed  this  unseemly  outburst  of  false  humility 
that  erected  itself  against  the  will  of  Christ,  by  words 
which  were  severe  in  sound  but  carried  an  appeal  to  the 
true,  adoring  love  which  lay  at  the  bottom  of  Peter's 
heart:  "If  I  wash  thee  not,  thou  hast  no  part  with  me." 
It  is  enough:  the  very  thought  of  being  separated  from 
Christ  sweeps  away  all  his  ill-timed  shame  and  reluctance, 
"Lord,"  he  exclaims,  "not  my  feet  only,  but  also  m}'' 
hands  and  my  head."  In  recoiling  from  the  abyss  which 
he  saw  opening  under  his  feet,  Peter  has  rushed  to  the 
opposite  extreme.  If  washing  be  necessary  to  continued 
fellowship  with  Christ,  he  will  not  only  submit  to  it,  but 
offer  his  hands  and  his  head.  "Jesus  saith  unto  him,  He 
that  is  washed  needeth  not  save  to  wash  his  feet,  but  is 
clean  every  whit;  and  ye  are  clean,  but  not  all."  As 
if  He  had  said,  "Tliis  foot-washing  denotes  not  a  total 
cleansing,  but  presupposes  it.  It  is  the  partial  ablu- 
tion needed  by  one  who,  after  bathing,  has  walked  iu 


THE    PASSOVER.  OO.j 

the  dust  and  mire:  you  heave  been  washed  in  the  laver 
of  regeneration,  and  you  therefore  only  need  to  be  puri- 
fied from  such  defilement  as  regenerate  persons  contract 
from  day  to  dny,  by  reason  of  their  natural  corruption." 
Thus  Jesus  passes  from  the  natural  to  the  spiritual — from 
physical  purification  to  moral.  "This  foot-washing  repre- 
sented to  them,  besides,  its  lesson  of  humility  and  brotherly 
love,  their  daily  need  of  cleansing  from  daily  pollution, 
even  after  their  spiritual  regeneration,  at  the  hands  of 
their  Divine  Master."  * 

Our  Lord  having  completed  Ilis  lowly  service,  resumed 
His  garments  and  again  reclined  at  the  table.  "Know 
ye,"  He  said,  "what  I  have  done  to  you?  Ye  call  me 
Master  and  Lord;  and  ye  say  well;  for  so  I  am.  If  I 
then,  your  Lord  and  Master,  have  washed  your  feet,  ye 
also  ought  to  wash  one  another's  feet.  For  I  have  given 
you  an  example  that  ye  should  do  as  I  have  done  to  you. 
Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.  The  servant  is  not  greater 
than  his  lord ;  neither  is  he  that  is  sent  greater  than  he 
that  sent  him.  If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if 
ye  do  them.  I  speak  not  of  you  all:  I  know  whom  I 
have  chosen;  but  that  the  Scripture  might  be  fulfilled,! 
He  that  eateth  bread  with  Me,  hath  lifted  up  his  heel 
against  Me.  Now  I  tell  you  before  it  comes,  that  when 
it  is  come  to  pass,  ye  may  believe  that  I  am  He.  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  receiveth  whomsoever  I 
send,  receiveth  Me,  and  he  that  receiveth  Me,  receiveth 
Him  that  sent  Me." 

Again  and  again  does  Jesus  give  expression  to  a  great 
sorrow  which  is  weighing  on  His  heart.  "  Ye  are  not  all 
clean."  "  I  know  whom  I  have  chosen ;  he  who  eateth 
bread  with  Me  hath  lifted  up  his  heel  against  Me." 
Now  He  tells  them  plainly,  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 

*Alford  on  John  siii.  10.  t  P^^-ilras  x\[.  9. 


666  THE    LIFE    OF    CHEIST. 

you  thfit  one  of  you  shall  betray  Me."  Alas,  a  dark 
shadow  i.s  on  the  feast;  its  fellowship  was  marred,  first, 
by  the  conteution  among  the  disciples,  and  now  by  the 
presence  of  a  traitor.  The  apostles,  John  excepted,  have 
no  suspicion  that  any  of  their  number  has  already  be- 
come a  secret  enemy  of  the  Lord  ;  they  regard  this  as  a 
prediction  of  the  future  apostasy  of  some  member  of  the 
society.  But  they  are  none  the  less  ap^Dalled  and  over- 
whelmed with  sorrow  by  the  announcement.  Their  love 
to  Jesus  is  sincere  and  intense,  thouf][;h  their  bcarin"; 
tow\ards  one  another  is  sometimes  selfish  and  unfraternal. 
Their  thoughts  take  a  humble  as  well  as  practical  direc- 
tion. Each  one  thinks  wathin  himself,  "Am  I  a  dog,  to  do 
this  thing?  Am  I  capable  of  such  incredible  Avickedness? 
I  can  not  tell  what  I  may  be  left  to  do."  And  so  they  be- 
gin to  say  aloud,  "Lord,  is  it  I?  Lord,  is  it  1?"  The  ques- 
tion runs  round  the  circle ;  but  Jesus  does  not  answer. 

Peter  beckoned  to  John,  who  was  lying  in  his  Master's 
bosom,  to  ask  Ilim  directl}^  who  should  be  the  traitor. 
"Lord,"  said  the  beloved  disciple,  "who  is  it?"  Jesus 
answered,  "  He  it  is  to  whom  I  shall  give  a  sop  wdien  I 
have  dipped  it."  Then  he  uttered  those  awful  words, 
"  The  Son  of  man  indeed  goeth  as  it  is  written  of  Him, 
but  woe  to  the  man  by  whom  the  Son  of  man  is  be- 
trayed !  Good  w^ere  it  for  that  man  if  he  had  never  been 
born."  The  sign  was  understood  by  some  ;  it  must  have 
been  understood  by  Judas  himself  He  saw  that  his  trea- 
son was  known  to  Jesus ;  he  knew  that  he  was  about  to 
be  pointed  out;  but  he  reached  forward  and  took  the  sop, 
even  wdiile  the  hand  of  Jesus  was  in  the  dish,  saying, 
half  in  desperation,  half  in  defiance,  "Lord,  is  it  I?" 
Jesus  answered  quietly,  and  in  an  under-tone,  "  Thou  hast 
said," — or.  Yes,  it  is  thou.  Oh,  had  Judas  refused  the  sop, 
fallen  down  at  Jesus'  feet  and  confessed  his  sin,  all  would 
have  been  forgiven.     But  when  he  received  the  sop,  he 


THE    PASSOVER.  COT 

finally  closed  the  contract  with  Satan,  \\\n)  IVoui  ihal  mo- 
ment gained  entire  possession  oi"  him.  He  retaine'd  hi.s 
consciousness  of  freedom,  and  so  was  not  a  demoniac,  but 
he  was  henceforth  like  an  arrow  shot  from  Satan's  bow. 
So  when  Jesus  said  to  him,  "That  thou  doest,  do  quickly," 
— words  spoken  rapidly,  and  still  in  an  under-tone,  Judas 
arose  and  immediately  went  out.  lie  had  much  to  do ; 
and  he  worked  with  energy  at  his  fearful  task.  lie  had  to 
make  arrangements  with  the  rulers  for  the  fulfillment  of 
his  bargain.  In  the  confusion  of  the  moment,  the  major- 
ity of  the  apostles  did  not  understand  what  was  passing. 
The  sudden  departure  of  Judas,  they  supposed  had  refer- 
ence to  some  further  provision  to  be  made  for  the  feast, 
or  to  the  distribution  of  alms  to  the  poor.  Had  they  sus- 
pected that  he  was  going  to  raise  a  band  of  men  to  seize 
their  Lord,  those  two  swords  which  they  had  among  them 
would  not  have  slept  in  their  scabbards.  Peter,  prompt 
and  fiery,  would  not  have  let  the  traitor  escape. 

But  he  is  gone,  and  with  his  departure  the  black  shadow 
which  had  come  over  the  feast  has  vanished.  Jesus,  con- 
scious now  that  He  is  surrounded  wnth  sincere  though 
timid  friends,  gives  unreserved  expression  to  the  mingled 
joy  and  sorrow  wdiicli  w  ere  sw^elling  in  His  heart :  "  Now 
is  the  Son  of  man  glorified,  and  God  is  glorified  in  Him. 
If  God  be  glorified  in  Him,  God  shall  also  glorify  Him  in 
Himself,  and  shall  straitway  glorify  Him.  Little  children, 
yet  a  little  while  I  am  with  you.  Ye  shall  seek  me,  and 
as  I  said  unto  the  Jews,  AVhither  1  go,  3-e  can  not  come, 
so  now  I  say  to  you,  A  new  commandment  I  give  unto 
you,  that  ye  love  one  another ;  as  I  have  loved  you  that 
ye  also  love  one  another.  By  this  shall  all  men  know 
that  ye  are  ni}-  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  for  another." 

Peter  broke  in  on  the  discourse,  at  this  point,  with  the 
question,  "  Lord,  whither  goest  Thou  ?  "  Our  Lord's  an- 
sw^er  w\as  prompted  by  tender  reserve,  for  how  could  they 


668  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIRIST. 

bear  the  ivJioIe  truth  touching  His  death  and  entrance  into 
the  mysterious  reahn  of  hades?  "Whither  I  go,  thou 
canst  not  follow  Me  now ;  but  thou  shalt  follow  Me  after- 
ward." Peter,  without  any  full  understanding  of  this  pro- 
phetic utterance,  answered  in  the  conscious  sincerity  of 
His  heart,  "Lord,  why  can  not  I  follow  Thee  now?  I  will 
lay  down  my  life  for  Thy  sake."  Jesus,  addressing  Him- 
self to  all  the  apostles,  said,  "All  ye  shall  be  offended 
because  of  Me  this  night;  for  it  is  written,  I  will  smite 
the  Shepherd  and  the  sheep  shall  be  scattered.  But  after 
I  am  risen  again,  I  will  go  before  you  into  Galilee.  Peter 
answered  and  said  unto  Him,  Though  all  men  shall  be 
offended  because  of  Thee,  yet  will  I  never  be  offended." 
Bold  words,  which  the  rash  apostle  afterwards  remem- 
bered with  shame  and  sorrow.  "  Simon,  Simon,"  said  the 
Lord,  "  behold,  Satan  hath  desired  to  have  you,  that  he 
may  sift  you  as  wheat ;  but  I  have  prayed  for  thee  that 
thy  faith  ftiil  not;  and  when  thou  art  converted,  strengthen 
thy  brethren."  Peter  still  protested  his  readiness  to  ac- 
company his  Master  even  to  prison  and  to  death.  How 
little  he  knew  of  his  own  heart!  Jesus  knew  all  that 
lay  unconscious  in  that  heart:  "Verily,  I  say  unto  thee, 
That  this  day,  even  in  this  night,  before  the  cock  crow 
twice,  thou  shalt  deny  Me  thrice."  Peter  refused  to  be 
convinced ;  with  the  vehemence  of  a  hurt  spirit,  he  still 
persisted  in  declaring  his  willingness  to  die  with  his 
adored  Master.  He  spoke  as  he  felt;  but  he  spoke  in 
ignorance  of  his  infirmities.  Had  he  owned  it  as  possi- 
ble, at  that  moment,  that  he  would  deny  Christ,  we  should 
have  loved  him  less.  How  much  he  was  like  one  of  us! 
It  is  often  overlooked  that  Peter  was  addressed,  as  in 
some  degree  representing  his  brethren.  The  words, "  Satan 
hath  desired  to  have  3'ou,  that  he  may  sift  you  as  wheat," 
were  spoken  to  all  the  apostles.  They  joined  him,  not 
only  in  his  vehement  protestations,  but  in  his  cowardly 


THE    rASSOVEIl.  009 

flight  when  Jesus  was  arrested.  They  did  not  with  him 
^  enter  the  palace  of  the  High  Priest,  following  Jesus  afar 
off.  His  courage  lasted  longer  than  theirs.  Even  in  the 
garden,  he  attempted  to  defend  our  Lord  with  the  sword, 
but  was  overruled.  Peter  was  not  a  coward ;  he  was  a 
weak,  sinful  man,  and  an  immature  Christian;  "for  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given,  because  Jesus  was  not  yet 
glorified."*  After  the  day  of  Pentecost,  who  so  brave  as 
Peter  ?  At  this  time  he  and  his  fellow-apostles  were 
trusting  in  their  own  strength.  They  had  even  had 
thoughts  of  defending  their  Master  and  themselves  against 
any  sudden  assault  of  their  enemies.  Jesus  would  lead 
them  to  see  the  vanity  of  self-help  at  this  crisis :  "  When 
I  sent  yoii  without  purse,  and  scrip,  and  shoes,  lacked  ye 
anything  ?  And  they  said.  Nothing.  Then  said  He  unto 
them.  But  now,  he  that  hath  a  purse,  let  him  take  it ;  and 
likewise  his  scrip  ;  and  he  that  hath  no  sword,  let  him  sell 
his  garment  and  buy  one.  For  I  say  unto  you,  that  this 
that  is  written  must  yet  be  accomplished  in  Me,  And 
He  was  reckoned  with  the  transgressors ;  for  the  things 
concerning  Me  have  an  end."  You  M'ill  now  need  to  make 
thorough  provision  for  your  own  safety ;  for  I  am  about 
to  be  taken  from  you.  You  will  have  need  of  treasure 
and  of  means  of  defense ;  for  you  will  have  a  world  in 
arms  against  you.  That  He  was  speaking  figuratively 
they  ought  to  have  known  ;  for  how  could  they  purchase 
swords  at  that  hour  of  the  Passover  night?  They,  how- 
ever, as  usual,  understood  Him  in  the  literal  sense;  "Lord, 
behold,  here  are  two  swords."  Vie  can  not  but  picture 
to  ourselves  the  look  of  pain  with  which  He  replied,  "  It 
is  enough."  Enough,  and  more  than  enough,  of  carnal 
weapons.  Enough,  and  more  than  enough,  of  their  stolid 
misconception  of  His  words. 

*Jolm  vii.  39. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

LORD'S  SUPPER:   VALEDICTORY  DISCOURSE. 

JIatthew  xxn.  26-29.    Mark  siv.  22-25.    Luke  xsn.  19,  20.    I.  Corinthians  xi.  23-25. 
John  xiv.  xv.  xvi.  xvii. 

AccoRDixG  to  the  harmonistic  scheme  which  we  have 
adopted,  the  Passover  feast  was  now  well  advanced.  The 
first  and  second  cups  of  wine  had  been  drunk ;  the  un- 
leavened bread  and  bitter  herbs  had  been  eaten ;  the  fare- 
well morsel  of  the  lamb  had  been  received;  and  the  time 
had  almost  come  for  the  third  cup  and  the  singing  of  the 
Hallel.  At  this  stage  of  the  meal  its  character  was  sud- 
denl}^  changed:  the  old  covenant  passover  became,  by 
the  act  of  Christ,  a  new  covenant  sacrament.  "And  as 
they  were  eating,  Jesus  took  bread,  and  blessed  it,  and 
brake  it,  and  gave  it  to  the  disciples,  and  said,  Take,  eat ; 
this  is  "My  body  which  is  broken  for  you ;  this  do  in  re- 
membrance of  Me.  And  He  took  the  cup,  and  gave 
thanks,  and  gave  it  to  them,  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it; 
for  this  is  my  blood  of  the  new  testament  which  is  shed 
for  many  for  the  remission  of  sins ;  this  do  ye,  as  oft  as 
ye  do  it,  in  remembrance  of  Me.  But  I  say  unto  you,  I 
will  not  drink  henceforth  of  this  fruit  of  the  vine,  until 
that  day  wlien  I  drink  it  new  with  you  in  My  Father's 
kingdom." 

That  we  may  enter  into  the  significance  of  the  Holy 
Communion,  thus  instituted,  we  must  carefully  consider 
the  act  and  the  words  of  Jesus.  The  act  lay  in  His 
taking  the  Ijread,  which  was,  of  course,  unleavened,  into 


TnE  lord's  supper.  671 

His  hands,  and,  after  giving  thanks,  breaking  it  and  gi\ing 
it  to  the  disciples.  After  the  same  manner  He  took  tlie 
cup,  gave  thanks,  and  gave  it  to  the  disciples.  That  He 
wrought  any  substantial  change  in  the  bread  and  wine,  is 
not  contradicted  by  the  record ;  but  neither  is  it  declared. 
For  aught  that  appears,  the  bread  and  the  wine  were  still 
bread  and  wine  after  He  had  blessed  them.  What  He 
intended  to  do  can  be  best  inferred  from  what  He  said. 
The  words  of  thanksgiving  or  blessing  which  He  uttered 
are  not  recorded.  Had  they  been  extraordinary, — had 
they  revealed  any  mystery  connected  with  the  new  sacra- 
ment, they  would  assuredly  have  been  given  to  the  church. 
What,  then,  was  the  meaning  of  His  words,  when  He  pre- 
sented the  bread  and  the  wine  to  His  disciples  ?  He  tells 
them  that  the  bread  was  His  body — His  body  "given"  and 
"broken"  for  them.  By  His  body  He  doubtless  meant 
His  living  body,  then  and  there  visible  to  them;  but  soon 
to  be  offered  as  a  sacrifice  for  their  sins.  Indeed,  He 
speaks  of  it  as  already  offered — as  already  given  up  and 
broken.  So  His  blood  is  spoken  of  as  already  shed  for  the 
remission  of  sins.  He  represents  Himself  as  a  perpetual 
sin-offering — the  one,  eternal  paschal  Lamb.  But  in  what 
sense  was  the  bread  His  body,  and  the  wine  His  blood? 

What  meaning  did  the  apostles  themselves  probably 
attach  to  the  words?  Is  it  credible  that  they  understood 
Him  as  asserting  that  the  bread  and  wine  which  He  held 
in  His  hands  were  at  that  moment,  by  a  stupendous  mira- 
cle, changed  into  the  very  substance  of  His  body  and 
blood  ?  Is  it  probable  that  such  an  idea  was  even  fiiintly 
su2;"fested  to  their  minds  ?  It  was  an  idea  so  new,  so  ex- 
traordinary,  so  contradicted  by  their  senses,  that  if  it  had 
but  dawned  upon  them,  they  would  not  have  failed  to 
question  Him  further.  Accustomed,  however,  as  they 
were,  to  commemorative  and  symbolical  rites,  they  would 
easily  understand  the  Ijread  and  wine  as  sUjmfyhig  His 


072  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

bod}^  about  to  be  offered  and  His  blood  about  to  be  sbed 
for  their  redemption.  "This  bread  which  I  now  break,  is, 
for  you,  My  body ;  and  this  wine,  which  I  divide  among 
you,  is,  for  3'ou,  My  blood.  I  give  you,  by  these  tokens, 
the  fulness  of  My  life.  When,  after  My  death,  you  do 
this  in  remembrance  of  Me,  be  assured  that  I  shall  then 
be  with  you,  as  truly  as  I  am  with  you  now.  This  sacra- 
ment shall  be  the  sign  and  pledge  of  My  presence  in  the 
power  and  grace  of  My  risen  and  glorified  humanity ;  in 
eating  the  bread  and  drinking  the  wine,  you  shall  have 
real  communion  in  My  body  and  blood."  So  much  the 
apostles  must  have  understood,  either  at  the  time,  or  after 
the  resurrection  of  our  Lord.  It  does  not  appear  that 
they  held  or  taught  any  doctrine  more  definite  than  this. 

After  the  apostolic  age,  the  fathers  spoke  of  the  eucha- 
rist  in  terms  of  the  most  profound  reverence ;  but  they 
did  not  assert  the  scholastic,  middle-age  doctrine  of  tran- 
substantiation.  They  held  that  the  sacrament  v^as  de- 
signed to  unite  the  partakers  wholly  with  Christ,  —  to 
change  itself  in  them,  according  to  His  working,  into  His 
body  and  blood.  The  development  from  this  germ  of 
the  tremendous  dogma  of  transubstantiation,  is  a  striking 
comment  on  the  words  of  the  apostle, "  Are  ye  so  foolish  ? 
Having  begun  in  the  spirit,  are  3'e  now  made  perfect  in 
the  flesh?"  This  dogma  demands  no  extended  notice, 
much  less  refutation,  in  the  present  work.  Since  the 
Keformation  three  theories  of  the  Lord's  Supper  have 
prevailed  among  Protestants,  each  of  which  has  a  large 
element  of  truth : 

First,  it  has  been  held  by  many  that  the  Lord's  Supper 
is  simply  a  commemoration  of  the  historic  Christ,  espe- 
cially of  His  sufferings  and  death.  According  to  this  view, 
the  bread  and  wine  are  mere  emlilems  to  remind  the  par- 
taker of  the  broken  body  and  the  shed  blood  of  the 
Lord.      His    presence   in   the   sacrament   is   in   no   sense 


THE  lord's  supper.  G73 

special  or  peculiar;  He  is,  indeed,  present  only  to  thought 
and  feeling,  and  not  at  all  by  any  operation  of  His  glori- 
fied humanity,  or  energy  proceeding  from  it.  He  is  pres- 
ent only  as  His  sufferings  and  death  are  realized  by 
Christian  faith  and  feeling.  It  is  even  said  by  some  that 
the  communicant  finds  in  the  sacrament  what  he  brings 
to  it;  no  more,  no  less.  The  positive  part  of  this  view, 
is,  so  far  as  it  goes,  both  true  and  important.  The  Lord's 
Supper  was  doubtless  intended  to  be  a  commemorative 
feast;  and  the  consecrated  bread  and  wine  are  true  me- 
morials of  His  body  and  blood.  This  is  not  denied  by 
any,  but  is  an  essential  part  of  every  doctrine  of  the  Eu- 
charist. But  does  this  exhaust  the  meaning  of  the  sac- 
rament? Is  there  not  some  sense  in  which  the  ever- 
living  Redeemer  gives  Himself  to  His  people  when  He 
says,  Take,  eat ;  this  is  My  body ;  this  is  My  blood  ;  drink 
ye  all  of  it  ?  "  The  bread  which  we  break,"  saj-s  the 
apostle,  '■'  is  the  communion  of  the  body  of  Christ ;  the 
cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless  is  the  communion  of 
the  blood  of  Christ."  Is  there,  then,  no  real  communion 
in  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord  ?  Is  the  Supper  a 
make-believe  feast  on  the  sacrificed  Lamb  of  God  ?  We 
believe  that  there  is  more,  infinitely  more,  in  the  Lord's 
Supper  than  the  Zwinglian  view  admits.  The  Christian 
consciousness  of  these  later  days  is  powerfully  reacting 
against  the  scarcely  disguised  rationalism  which  strips  all 
Christian  sacraments  of  life  and  reality,  and  turns  them 
into  mere  Judaic  ceremonies.  That  reaction,  if  we  read 
ario-ht  the  sig-ns  of  the  times,  is  destined  to  make  itself 
widely  and  deeply  felt  hereafter. 

Secondl}^,  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformed  Church,  has,  in 
the  main,  been  that  of  Calvin,  who,  while  asserting  that 
our  Lord  intended  the  supper  to  be  a  feast  of  commemo- 
ration, strenuously  insisted  that  He  Himself,  in  His  real 
body  and  blood  is  received  therein,  by  faith.  According 
43 


674  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

to  this  doctrine,  the  glorified  Saviour  is  really  present, 
not  in  the  bread  and  wine  which  remain  unchanged,  but 
under  the  outward  signs ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the  sacrament 
as  a  wdiole,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Christ  can 
be  received  only  by  faith ;  He  gives  Himself  only  to  the 
believer,  but  to  him  He  gives  Himself  wholly.  This  doc- 
trine of  the  real  presence,  fully  answers  the  demand  of 
a  sound  exegesis  and  meets  the  yearnings  of  the  Christian 
heart.  When  our  Lord  says :  "  Take,  eat ;  this  is  My 
body,"  there  is  a  large  and  glorious  meaning  in  the  words 
if  they  assure  the  communicant  of  the  gift  of  the  fulness 
of  His  divine-human  life.  In  this  view  the  wondrous  dis- 
course in  the  sixth  chapter  of  John's  gospel,  is  luminous 
and  sublime  ;  while  the  lower  view  makes  it  mystical  and 
extravagant. 

Thirdly,  the  Lutheran  doctrine,  wdiich  differs  little  from 
what  is  called  the  Anglican,  asserts  the  real  presence  of 
the  Lord  in  the  material  elements  by  way  of  mysterious 
union  with  their  substance.  We  can  not  see  how  this 
view  harmonizes  any  better  with  the  words  of  Christ 
than  the  one  just  presented ;  and  it  is  logically  less  ten- 
able. By  contending  for  such  a  physical  change  in  the 
bread  and  wine  as  is  implied  in  their  substantial  union 
with  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  it  concedes  a  necessity 
for  such  a  principle  of  interpretation,  as  leaves  it  no 
ground  to  stand  upon  as  against  Romanism.  The  Angli- 
can doctrine,  however,  leaves  us  a  real  sacrament,  and  not 
an  empty  rite.  While  it  tends  to  superstition,  it  protests 
against  the  hollowness  and  deadness  of  a  baptized  ration- 
alism. It  witnesses  to  the  presence  of  the  risen  Saviour 
in  the  church ;  and  in  that  we  may  well  rejoice. 

We  accept,  therefore,  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist, 
which  has  always  been  held  with  more  or  less  distinctness 
by  the  reformed  cliurches  throughout  the  world.  We 
recognize  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  not  only  a  commemorative 


THE    VALEDICTORY    DISCOURSE.  G7o 

rite  but  a  true  communion  in  the  body  iind  blood  oi'  the 
Lord.  It  is,  to  the  end  of  the  world,  a  witness  to  His 
love  in  giving  Himself /or  His  people;  but  it  is  also  a 
witness  and  a  token  that  He  gives  Himself  to  them. 

The  apostles  must  have  understood  it  as  preeminentlv 
an  expression  of  His  love.  We  cannot  but  long  to  loll 
back  the  centuries,  and  enter  that  upper  room  where  the 
eleven  with  tearful  wonder,  gaze  upon  their  adored  Master, 
so  soon  to  leave  them.  The  night  is  waxing  late.  The 
feast  is  over.  They  sing  a  hymn,  and  are  about  to  depart. 
They  are  arrested  by  His  voice ;  He  has  yet  much  to  say 
to  them;  for  they  need  consolation  and  strength.  In  a 
short  hour  or  two,  He  will  be  separated  from  them;  and 
they  will  be  like  sheep  having  no  shepherd.  Not  thus 
will  He  have  them  go  out  into  the  dark  night — into  the 
darker  night  of  sorrow  and  conflict  and  suffering.  He 
has  farewell  counsel  and  consolation  to  impart  before  He 
is  separated  from  them  to  undergo  His  cross  and  passion. 

It  has  been  much  debated,  b}^  scholars,  whether  the 
farewell  discourse  was  spoken  in  the  supper-room,  or  in 
the  open  air,  on  the  way  to  Gethsemane.  It  is  not 
essentially  a  question  of  much  importance;  but  we  incline 
to  a  modification  of  the  latter  hypothesis.  It  seems 
probable  that  the  first  part  of  the  discourse — so  much  as 
is  recorded  in  John  xiv. — was  spoken  at  the  table — won- 
drous table-talk  indeed! — and  that  the  remainder,  with 
the  prayer,  was  uttered  after  our  Lord,  having  said,  "Arise, 
let  us  go  hence,"  went  out  with  the  eleven.  The  limit.s 
of  this  book,  already  overgrown,  forljid  an  extended  ex- 
position of  the  farewell  discourse.  Happily,  there  are  few 
passages  of  Scripture  which  are  at  once  so  profound  and 
so  transparent.  The  reader,  it  is  hoped,  will  at  this  point 
read  that  discourse,  without  note  or  comment  from  begin- 
ning to  end.  Then  he  ma}^,  if  so  disposed,  glance  at  the 
following  reflections  upon  it. 


676  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

We  are  struck  with  the  divine  calmness  of  this  dis- 
course. One  recognizes  in  it  an  undertone  of  sorrow; 
but,  as  a  whole,  it  is  like  a  cloudless  summer  evening, 
when  earth,  sky  and  ocean,  suffused  with  gleams  of  purple 
and  gold,  seem  entranced,  and  a  sacred  peace  broods  over 
all.  Not  a  sentence,  not  a  word,  betrays  the  agitation  of 
fear,  or  doubt,  or  disapj)ointment;  but  all  is  serene,  though 
pensive  and  tender.  It  is  clear  that  pur  Lord  was  not 
surprised  by  the  tragical  end  of  His  mission.  He  had  all 
along  expected  and  foretold  it;  and  when  at  last  He  felt 
that  His  hour  was  come.  He  was  not  shocked  or  discom- 
posed. In  the  midst  of  His  spiritual  household  He  dis- 
coursed concerning  His  departure  in  language  almost  joy- 
ous and  exultant.  Nay,  more;  He  instituted  a  feast  to  be 
forever  celebrated  in  commemoration  of  His  death.  If 
He  seemed  at  all  troubled  in  spirit  it  was  on  account  of 
His  anxious  and  sorrowful  disciples,  who  were  unable,  as 
yet,  to  understand  the  relation  between  the  sufferings  of 
Christ  and  the  glorj'-  that  should  follow.  To  them  He 
would  impart  His  own  interior  tranquillity;  and  the  scope 
of  the  whole  discourse  is  expressed  in  the  wondrous  ben- 
ediction:— "Peace  I  leave  with  you;  My  peace  I  give 
unto  you." 

In  His  gracious  endeavor  to  encourage  and  comfort 
His  dejected  apostles,  our  Lord's  selection  of  topics  was 
marked  by  divine  wisdom.  They  were  already  cower- 
ing and  trembling  under  the  shadow  of  the  approaching 
storm  ;  they  were  terror-stricken  and  heart-broken  by  the 
thought  of  His  leaving  them.  "  Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled ;  ye  believe  in  God  ;  believe  also  in  jMe."  See 
that  you  are  fixed  by  faith  on  the  Eock  of  ages.  Do  you 
mourn  for  My  departure  ?  Do  you  not,  tlien,  know  whither 
and  for  what  purpose  I  am  going?  "In  My  Father's  house 
are  many  mansions  :  if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told 
you.     I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you.     And  if  I  go  and 


THE    VALEDICTORY    DISCOUKSE.  G77 

prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will  come  again  and  receive  you 
unto  Myself,  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  ma}^  be  also." 
"During  My  absence  I  will  prepare  you  a  habitation  in 
some  peaceful  world,  far  beyond  the  troubles  and  coiilHcts 
of  earth ;  and  I  will  return  for  you  in  due  time.  Be  as- 
sured that  our  separation  will  be  of  brief  duration;  1  shall 
long  for  your  presence  in  the  Father's  house."  Having  an- 
swered the  characteristic  questions  of  Thomas  and  Philip, 
by  setting  forth  in  words  of  wonderful  depth  and  grandeur, 
His  relation  to  the  Father  as  His  express  image ;  and  His 
relation  to  men,  as  the  only  way  to  the  Father ;  He  goes 
on  to  animate  their  drooping  hearts  by  promising  to  send 
to  them  the  Divine  Paraclete  —  that  other  Comforter  — 
who  should  supply  and  more  than  supply  the  lack  of  His 
bodily  presence.  In  fact.  He  would  Himself  come  to  them 
in  the  life-giving  and  light-giving  energy  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Those  who  truly  loved  Him  should  not  be  left 
in  the  loneliness  of  orphanage ;  but  He  would  manifest 
Himself  to  them ;  nay.  He  and  the  Father  Avould  make 
Their  abode  with  them.  Again  He  promises  them  the 
Comforter,  and  pronounces  upon  them  His  effectual  bless- 
ing, bidding  them,  if  they  love  Him,  to  rejoice  that  He 
is  going  to  the  Father. 

After  they  had  left  the  supper-room,  and  while  they 
were  on  their  way  to  the  garden,  our  Lord  resumed  His 
discourse.  It  is  quite  possible  that,  pausing  a  few  minutes, 
near  one  of  the  vineyards  beyond  the  city  wall.  He  pointed 
to  some  luxuriant  vine,  and  said  :  "  I  am  the  true  vine,  and 
My  Father  is  the  husbandman."  Your  union  with  Me  is 
vital,  indissoluble.  We  are  forever  one  by  a  mutual  in- 
dwelling. If  you  abide  in  Me,  and  My  words  aljide  in 
you,  you  shall  be  fruitful,  and  you  shall  prevail  in  prater; 
for  living  in  Me,  asking  in  My  name,  you  shall  receive  all 
you  desire.  Assuring  them  of  His  love — love  stronger 
than  death, — calling  them,  not  servants,  but  friends.  He 


678  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIIIIST. 

commands  them  to  love  one  another,  and  to  bring  forth 
much  fruit  to  the  glory  of  God.  Forewarning  them  of 
the  persecutions  which  should  come  upon  them,  He  forti- 
fies their  minds  against  them  with  the  thought  that  they 
would  suffer  with  Him  and  for  His  name's  sake ;  and  with 
a  third  promise  of  the  Comforter,  now  also  called  the 
Spirit  of  Truth,  He  tells  them  plainly  that  the  time  was 
coming  when  they  would  be  put  out  of  the  synagogues, 
and,  like  beasts  of  prey  be  hunted  to  the  death.  Once 
more,  and  for  the  fourth  time.  He  repeats  His  promise  that 
He  would  send  to  them  the  Paraclete  :  "It  is  expedient  for 
you  that  I  go  away ;  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter 
will  not  come  to  you ;  but  if  I  depart  I  will  send  Him 
unto  you.  And  when  He  is  come,  He  will  reprove  the 
world  of  sin,  of  righteousness  and  of  judgment;  of  sin, 
because  they  believe  not  on  Me ;  of  righteousness,  because 
I  go  to  My  Father,  and  ye  see  Me  no  more  ;  of  judgment, 
because  the  Prince  of  this  world  is  judged.  I  have  yet 
many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  can  not  bear  them 
now.  Howbeit,  when  He,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  is  come. 
He  will  guide  you  into  all  truth ;  for  He  shall  not  speak 
of  Himself;  but  whatsoever  He  shall  hear,  that  shall  He 
speak  ;  and  He  shall  show  you  things  to  come.  He  shall 
glorify  Me ;  for  He  shall  receive  of  Mine,  and  shall  show 
it  unto  you.  All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  Mine ; 
therefore  said  I,  that  He  shall  take  of  Mine,  and  shall 
show  it  unto  you." 

This  then  is  the  central  topic  in  this  discourse — the 
coming  and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  departure  of 
Christ  was  an  indispensable  prerequisite  to  the  baptism 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  His  humanity  must  needs  be  glori- 
fied, before  He  can  be  the  channel  for  conveying  to  His 
people  this  crowning  gift.  The  presence  of  the  Com- 
forter would  fill  them  with  life,  and  light,  and  power,  and 
joy.     Therefore,  instead  of  mourning  His  departure  they 


THE    VALEDICTOKY    DISCOURSE.  C79 

ought  to  rejoice  in  it.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  our  Lord,  in 
this  discourse,  repeatedly  speaks  of  His  own  coming  as 
connected  with  that  of  the  Comforter,  or  rather  as  one 
with  it.  "A  Uttle  while,  and  ye  shall  not  see  Me;  and 
again  a  little  while  and  ye  shall  see  Me,  because  I  go 
imto  the  Father."  Doubtless  we  are  to  understand,  in 
this  place,  that  spiritual  coming  of  the  Lord  in  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  to  be  at  last  suddenly  sig- 
nalized and  consummated  in  His  visible  appearing,  with- 
out sin,  unto  salvation.  This  visible  return  of  the  Lord 
will  not  supersede  the  ^vork  of  the  Spirit,  but  immeasura- 
bly augment  the  heavenly  gift. 

Finally,  telling  them  plainly  that  He  was  about  to  leave 
the  w^orld  and  go  unto  the  Father ;  and  encouraging  them 
to  ask  boldly  whatsoever  they  needed  in  His  name,  because 
the  Father  Himself  loved  them ;  He  concludes  His  fare- 
well discourse  in  words  of  mingled  w^arning  and  consola- 
tion :  "  Behold  the  hour  cometh,  and  is  now  come,  when 
ye  shall  be  scattered  every  man  to  his  own,  and  shall 
leave  Me  alone ;  and  yet  I  am  not  alone,  because  the 
Father  is  with  Me.  These  things  I  have  spoken  unto 
you,  that  in  Me  ye  might  have  peace.  In  the  world  ye 
shall  have  tribulation ;  but  be  of  good  cheer  ;  I  have 
OVERCOME  THE  WORLD."  Having  said  these  words,  Jesus, 
standing  there  under  the  starry  heavens,  lifted  up  His 
eyes  and  uttered  that  marvellous  high-priestly  prayer, 
which  can  best  be  understood  by  those  who  study  it,  in 
solitude  and  silence,  on  their  knees. 


CHAPTER    X. 

GETHSEMANE. 

LOCATION    OF     THE     GARDEN — CHRIST'S    AGONY    AND     BLOODY    SWEAT — AN 
ANGEL    STRENGTHENS   IIIM. 

Matthew  xxvi.  36-46.    Mark  xiv.  32-42.    Luke  xxu.  39-46.    John  xvm.  1. 

No  spot  is  more  interesting  to  the  Christian  heart  than 
Gethsemane.  Tradition  gives  the  name  to  an  enclosure 
not  far  from  the  eastern  wall  of  Jerusalem,  containing 
eight  gnarled  and  age-worn  olive  trees.  These  trees, 
quite  different  from  any  others  in  the  vicinity,  and  "  the 
most  venerable  of  their  race  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,"  * 
witness  to  the  antiquity  of  the  tradition.  As  the  -place 
of  our  Lord's  agony  and  of  His  betrayal  must  have  been 
peculiarly  sacred  to  the  apostles  and  early  Christians,  it 
is  not  easy  to  see  how  it  could  have  become  unknown. 
Eusebius  and  Jerome  mention  the  place  as  well  known  in 
their  day;  and  ever  since  it  has  been  a  favorite  resort  of 
Christian  pilgrims.  We  are  persuaded  that  though  the 
existing  enclosure  may  be  of  less  extent  than  the  ancient 
gard(?n,  it  is  not  far  from  the  very  spot  which  was  forever 
consecrated  by  the  agon}^  and  bloody  sweat  of  the  Lord. 
It  was  a  spot  to  which  Jesus  had  been  wont  to  retire, 
previous  to  His  last  mysterious  and  awful  visit.f  It 
probably  belonged  to  some  friend — possibly  to  the  family 

*  Dean  Stanley.  f  Luke  xxi.  37  ;  compare  sxii.  39. 


GETIISEMAXE.  C81 

of  Martha.  It  was  secluded  and  still ;  and  the  fig,  pome- 
granate, olive  and  vine,  offered  their  '*  hospitable  shade  " 
to  the  Son  of  man,  in  his  hours  of  repose  and  devotion. 

This  last  visit  of  Jesus  to  Gethsemane  was  in  the  night, 
probably  between  the  hours  of  eleven  and  twelve  o'clock. 
As  He  stood  there  at  the  entrance  of  the  irnrden,  tlic 
moon,  then  near  its  full,  was  shininii;  briu'htlv  on  tower  and 
palace,  on  the  temple  and  its  cluster  of  marble  out-build- 
ings, on  mountain  and  valley,  now  thickly-  dotted  with 
the  tents  and  booths  of  the  multitude  who  had  come  up 
to  attend  the  Passover.  Our  Lord,  however,  at  this  mo- 
ment, had  nothing  to  do  with  the  fair  outside  world ;  He 
was  advancing  to  the  great  spiritual  conflict  by  which  the 
eternal  destiny  of  the  human  family  was  to  be  determined. 
Before  entering  the  garden,  He  divided  His  little  company 
into  two  bands.  Selecting  Peter,  James  and  John  to  ac- 
company Him,  He  said  to  the  other  eight :  "  Sit  ye  here, 
while  I  go  and  pray  yonder."  He  knew,  perhaps,  that 
they  could  not  witness  His  agony  without  peril  to  their 
faith ;  but  He  desired  the  presence  of  the  three  who  had 
witnessed  His  transfiguration  and  some  of  His  mightiest 
miracles,  and  had,  from  the  first,  received  many  special 
proofs  of  His  confidence. 

And  now,  as  He  passed  into  the  garden,  a  shadow 
deeper  than  that  of  the  olive-trees  fell  upon  Him — a 
shadow  that  wrapped  His  soul  in  the  blackness  of  dark- 
ness. He  began  to  be  sorrowful,  and  very  heavy,  and  sore 
amazed.  Those  who  have  been  struck  —  and  who  has 
not? — with  the  calm,  consolatory,  even  triumphant  tone 
of  the  flirewell  discourse,  may  regard  this  sudden  and  ter- 
rible dejection  as  surprising  ;  but  let  it  be  considered  that 
our  Lord,  though  sinless,  was  true  man  ;  and  that  such 
rapid  alternations  of  conflicting  emotions — especially  in 
seasons  of  extraordinary  excitement, — are  intensely  hu- 
man.    A  great  general,  on  the  eve  of  a  decisive  battle, 


682  THE    LIFE    OF    CnPJST. 

the  issue  of  which  he  regards  as  certain,  may  express 
the  highest  confidence  and  even  joy ;  but  when  his  col- 
umns are  about  to  charge  the  enemy,  he  may  inwardly 
shudder  at  the  approaching  carnage,  and  at  the  wide- 
spread suffering  by  which  alone  victory  can  be  achieved. 
I  am  far  from  the  irreverence  of  comparing  the  Captain 
of  our  salvation  with  any  earthly  warrior,  except  in  re- 
spect of  that  humanity  which  He  shared  with  all  men. 
He  had  reached  the  crisis  of  His  redeeming  work.  He 
had  freely  offered  Himself  for  the  sacrifice ;  and  now  it 
was  to  be  required  of  Him.  He  was  to  suffer  all  that  the 
malice  of  hell  and  the  rage  of  ungodly  men  could  inflict. 
He  saw  just  before  Him,  as  if  already  present.  His  be- 
trayal, the  insults  and  mockeries  which  would  be  heaped 
upon  Him,  the  lingering  agonies  of  the  cross,  the  cold 
obstruction  of  the  tomb,  and  whatever  of  dread  and  mys- 
tery there  may  be  in  death ;  He  knew  all  He  must  suffer 
for  sin  and  fi^om  sin ;  and  though  His  purpose  did  not 
waver,  His  human  soul,  in  part  because  it  was  sinless, 
started  back  in  instinctive  loathino;  and  horror  from  the 
mighty  woe.  Pain  and  suffering  were  alien  to  that  Holy 
One,  who  but  for  His  own  voluntary  surrender,  could 
never  have  felt  a  mortal  shock  or  pang,  but  only  the 
fulness  and  harmony  of  the  powers  of  an  endless  life. 
There  was  in  His  soul  a  depth  of  holy  sensibility  of 
which  a  sinner  can  not  conceive.  To  bear  the  sins  of 
men,  to  endure  the  contradiction  of  sinners  against  Him- 
self, to  suffer  death  at  their  hands ; — shall  we  wonder 
that  the  Son  of  man  shrunk  from  this  ? 

Though  He  knew  that  He  must  tread  the  wine-press 
alone,  and  that  of  the  people  there  woukl  be  none  with 
Him,  His  words,  at  this  moment,  revealed  a  craving  for 
human  sympathy :  "  My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful  even 
unto  death ;  tarry  ye  here  and  watch  with  Me."  The 
pain  and  anguish  which  He  felt  were  so  intense  that  He 


i 


GEXnSEMANE.  G83 

seems  to  have  apprehended  death,  tlien  and  there ;  and 
though  the  three  disciples  could  not  help  Him  bear  the 
burden  which  was  crushing  His  soul,  He  desired  to  have 
them  near  Him  in  His  deadly  anguish,  not  to  pray  with 
Him  or  for  Him,  but  to  watch  with  Him.  How  He  loved 
them!  And  how  He  longed  for  their  love!  "And  He 
went  forward  a  little,"  (Luke  says,  "a  stone's  cast,")  "and 
fell  on  His  face,  and  prayed  that,  if  it  were  possible,  the 
hour  might  pass  from  Him,  And  He  said,  Abba,  Father, 
all  things  are  possible  unto  Thee ;  take  away  this  cup 
from  Me ;  nevertheless,  not  what  I  will,  but  what  Thou 
wilt."  As  this  prayer  is  the  key  to  this  mysterious  pas- 
sage of  our  Lord's  history,  w^e  must  reverently  inquire 
into  its  meaning. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  let  it  be  noted  that  Jesus,  so 
far  from  intimating  any  doubt  of  His  Sonship,  or  of  the 
Father's  love,  expresses  the  highest  filial  confidence. 
"Abba,  Father" — thus  in  the  hour  of  His  agonj^.  He 
comes  to  God.  That  He  was  personally  an  object  of 
divine  wrath,  that  the  Father  was  angry  with  Him,  is  a 
supposition  contradicted  by  every  word  He  utters.  Even 
on  the  cross,  the  exclamation,  "  My  God,  My  God,  why 
hast  Thou  forsaken  Me  ? "  implies  that  even  while  con- 
scious of  a  fearful  desertion.  He  felt  that  His  relation 
to  the  Father  was  unchanged.  The  Father  loved  the 
Son  as  much  in  the  garden,  and  on  the  cross,  as  ever 
before  or  ever  afterwards. 

It  must  be  noted  in  the  second  place,  that  this  prayei 
implies,  or  rather  plainly  declares,  that  what  our  Lord 
was  about  to  suffer  was  in  fulfillment  of  the  Father's  will. 
He  prayed  that  if  it  was  the  Father's  will,  the  cup  might 
pass  from  Him;  but  if  it  was  the  Father's  will  that  He 
should  drink  it,  He  submissively  accepted  the  deadly 
draught.  He  did  not  intimate  that  His  sufferings  would 
ccme  upon  Him  incidentally,  in  the  prosecution  of  His  re- 


CS-4  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

deeming  work.  He  recognized  the  mighty  woe,  called  by 
Him  ^^this  cup"  as  laid  upon  Him  by  the  Father's  hand. 
The  case  then  stands  thus:  the  Father,  loving  the  Son 
with  infinite  and  unchangeable  tenderness,  wills  that  He 
should  undergo  peculiar  and  unexampled  suffering;  the 
Son,  not  doubting  the  Father's  love,  while  He  shrinks 
from  that  suffering,  resigns  Himself  to  it  in  submission  to 
the  Father's  will. 

We  come  now  to  the  question,  what  was  that  cup 
which  the  Father's  hand  pressed  to  the  lips  of  His  beloved 
Son  ?  The  j^hrase  itself,  employed  by  our  Lord  on  a  former 
occasion*  in  the  same  sense,  was  borrowed  from  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  where  it  signifies  extreme  suffer- 
nigs.  A  striking  example  of  its  use  may  be  seen  in  Isaiah 
li.  22,  23  :  "  Thus  saith  thy  Lord,  the  Lord,  that  pleadeth 
the  cause  of  His  people.  Behold,  I  have  taken  out  of  thine 
hand  the  cup  of  trembling,  even  the  dregs  of  the  cup  of, 
my  fury;  thou  shalt  no  more  drink  it  again;  but  I  will 
put  it  into  the  hand  of  them  that  afflict  thee."  Li  Jere- 
miah XXV.  15,  28,  the  same  figure  is  expanded  to  the  di- 
mensions of  an  allegory.  Li  every  case  it  is  the  cup  of 
divine  wrath;  and  it  is  represented  as  producing  trem- 
bling, desolation,  astonishment,  and  anguish.  Now  when 
our  Lord  speaks  of  the  cup.  He  doubtless  means  His  whole 
passion  then  commencing;  all  the  sufferings  which  He 
was  to  endure  according  to  the  Father's  will.  And  it  is 
quite  true,  and  quite  in  keeping  with  the  language  of 
Scripture,  that  the  cup  which  was  appointed  Him  was  the 
cup  of  the  wrath  of  God.  And  this  by  no  means  contra- 
dicts what  has  been  already  said  touching  the  Father's 
unchangeable  love  to  His  Son. 

What  is  meant  by  this  ])hrase — the  wrath  of  Cod?     It 
can  only  mean  such  wrath  as  springs  from  absolute  love; 

*  Matt.  XX.  20. 


GETIISKMAXE.  CS5 

for  God  is  love.  There  can  be  no  feeling  in  the  divine 
heart  which  is  not  some  form  of  holy  love — of  love,  all- 
knowing,  all-just,  all-wise.  Need  we  prove  that  such  love 
is  capable  of  anger — of  wrath — of  Ijurning  indignation  ? 
Is  not  paternal  love,  when  outraged  by  lilial  ingratitude 
and  rebellion,  terrible  in  its  displeasure?  Divine  love  is 
revealed  from  heaven  as  wrath  against  sin — tiie  wrath, 
not  only! of  an  insulted  Father,  but  a  holy  soverei<'ii — a 
wrath,  therefore,  revealed  in  the  icay  of  law.  It  is  free 
from  all  perturbation  of  passion,  from  any  mixture  of 
hatred  against  the  persons  of  transgressors;  but  it  is  real 
and  infinite  displeasure.  The  wrath  of  CJod  against  sin  is 
such  wrath  as  Jesus  Himself  manifested  in  the  days  of 
His  humiliation.  He  revealed  the  Father.  He  was  in 
the  Father  and  the  Father  in  Him.  The  divine  anger  icas 
His  own  anger.  It  were  a  grievous  error  to  imagine  that 
there  was  a  lack  of  unity  between  the  Father  and  the 
Son;  that  they,  in  fact,  took  opposite  sides;  the  former 
that  of  justice,  the  latter  of  mercy.  There  was — there 
could  be — no  contrariety  of  feeling  or  purpose,  between 
the  consubstantial  Persons  of  the  adorable  Trinity.  All 
that  was  in  the  Father  was  in  the  Son  by  eternal  self-com- 
munication. The  wa^ath  of  God  against  sin  was  therefore 
in  the  Son  as  w^ell  as  in  the  Father;  in  bearing  that  wrath 
our  Lord  hore  His  own  icrath;  that  is  to  say,  He  felt  an 
abhorrence  and  indignation  against  the  sins  of  man — and 
He  was  man — truly  divine.  His  holy  heart  was  l)ur(loned, 
grieved,  wounded,  broken,  by  the  sins  of  His  brethren. 

Though  He  Himself  v/as  immaculate.  He  thorouLchly 
identified  Himself  with  our  race  in  its  fallen  state.  He 
became  bone  of  our  bone,  flesh  of  our  flesh.  He  entered 
into  our  nature  and  our  condition.  By  a  sympathy  idjso- 
lutely  unique,  He  took  our  sins  on  His  sinless  soul ;  real- 
ized, as  we  never  can,  their  infinite  foulness  and  tui-jiitude  ; 
and  grasped,  in  His  outstretched  arras,  that  fearful  thing, 


686  THE   LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

that  aggregate  of  eternal  pains  and  horrors — death — the 
penalty  of  sin.  Thus  while  He  carried  in  His  heart  the 
wrath  of  God  against  sin,  He  was  bound  to  His  brethren 
by  large  and  tender  sj^mpathy;  He  took  them  with  all 
their  sins  and  miseries,  on  His  own  soul ;  He  felt  the  de- 
pravity and  guilt  of  mankind  as  indeed  foreign  to  Him, 
nevertheless  His  own.  In  the  consciousness  of  the  God- 
man,  the  holy  anger  of  God  against  sin  and  a  human 
sense  of  the  evil  of  sin  and  its  desert  of  punishment, 
were  brought  into  contact.  Hence  the  feeling  of  inward 
di^;harmony  and  conflict,  so  foreign  to  that  consciousness ; 
hence,  the  sore  amazement,  the  exceeding  heaviness,  the 
sorrow  unto  death,  the  agony,  of  the  Lord  in  the  garden. 
Though  He  had  no  sin  of  which  to  repent.  He  was  the 
vicarious  Penitent  of  mankind.  His  sorrow  was  godly 
sorrow  for  sin — for  man's  sin — and  again  I  repeat.  He 
WAS  MAN ;  and  it  was  a  sorrow  commensurate  with  the 
sin,  a  sorrow  so  holy,  so  full,  so  intense,  that  it  satisfied 
the  feeling  of  the  divine  nature,  called  sometimes  justice, 
sometimes,  wrath ;  that  is  to  say,  His  sorrow  satisfied  His 
own  justice.  His  own  wrath  against  sin.  He  put  a  true 
estimate  on  transgression,  and  justified  the  penalty.  Nay, 
He  truly  suffered  that  penalty ;  for  He  took  it  on  His  own 
soul,  felt  its  unutterable  bitterness,  and  In  the  full,  ade- 
quate, conscious  realization  of  it,  finally  died.  Thus  sin 
was  not  only  repented  of,  but  punished  in  Him ;  thus  He 
suffered  for  us  the  curse  and  the  pains  of  hell.  Thus  He 
confessed,  as  the  Head  and  Representative  of  mankind, 
that  the  race  was  justly  condemned ;  thus  He  vindicated 
the  law  and  government  of  God  ;  thus  He  bore  the  divine 
wrath  and  satisfied  divine  justice.  Nevertheless,  He  was, 
and  He  knew  that  He  was,  all  the  while  the  object  of  the 
Father's  complacency.  On  the  other  hand.  He  suffered, 
and  He  knew  that  He  suffered,  in  fulfillment  of  the  Fa- 
ther's will.     The  Father  gave  Him  up  and  appointed  Him 


GETUSEMANE.  C87 

to  the  cup  of  death,  to  the  baptism  of  hloorl.  And  He 
accepted  Him  as  a  substitute  for  mankind;  and  His  suf- 
ferings as  a  sufficient  expiation  of  the  sins  of  the  world. 
For  all  was  done  in  pursuance  of  an  eternal,  mutual  pur- 
pose, properly  called  a  covenant,  between  the  Father  and 
the  Son. 

Such  then  was  the  cup  from  which  Jesus  prayed  to  be 
delivered :  "  Father,  if  Thou  be  willing,  remove  this  cup 
from  Me."  The  petition  is  prompted  by  the  feeling  of 
unendurable  pain :  it  is  the  instinctive  cry  of  weakness 
under  a  burden  which  it  feels  itself  unable  to  bear.  It 
would  seem  indeed  that  He  was  about  to  expire ;  for,  in 
answer  to  His  prayer,  an  angel  was  sent  to  strengthen 
Him.  "When  He  had  ofiered  up  prayers  and  supplica- 
tions with  strong  crying  and  tears  imto  Him  that  was 
able  to  save  Him  from  death.  He  was  heard  in  that  He 
feared."*  After  His  strength  was  thus  supernaturall}' 
reinforced,  "being  in  an  agony.  He  prayed  more  ear- 
nestly; and  His  sweat  was,  as  it  were,  great  drops  of  blood 
falling  down  to  the  ground."  How  long  He  lay  pros- 
trate in  this  awful  agony  we  know  not.  At  length.  He 
remembered  His  three  disciples,  rose  from  the  ground 
and  returned  to  them.  Alas,  can  it  be !  He  finds  them 
sleeping.  How  unutterably  mournful  are  His  words  to 
Peter !  "  What !  could  ye  not  watch  with  Me  one  hour  ? 
Watch  and  pray,  lest  ye  enter  into  temptation."  Lest 
the  reproof  should  seem  too  cutting,  He  adds,  "The  spirit 
indeed  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak." 

Again  He  retires ;  again  He  falls  upon  the  ground  ; 
again  He  prays;  but  there  is  a  change.  He  no  longer 
asks  that  the  cup  may  pass  away;  He  is  distinctly  con- 
scious that  it  can  not  pass;  "0  My  Father,  if  this  cup 
may  not  pass  from  Me  except  I  drink  it,  Thy  will  be  done  1 " 

*  Hebrews  v.  7. 


G88  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

Thus  His  human  will  and  His  human  sensibility,  are  immo- 
lated to  the  will  of  God.  He  is  obedient  unto  death. 
Henceforth  He  has  no  choice.  He  takes  the  cup  from 
the  Father's  hand.  He  advances  alone  into  the  dread 
ThGrmopjd^e  of  the  universe ;  He  exposes  Himself  to  the 
full  shock  of  the  powers  of  hell;  He  bares  His  bosom 
to  the  bolts  of  divine  wrath ;  He  laj-s  Himself  on  the 
altar,  and  awaits  the  stroke  of  the  sacrificial  knife.  Once 
more  His  heart  prompts  Him  to  seek  the  place  where  the 
disciples  are — watching  ? — no,  but  again  sleeping.  What 
He  said  to  them  is  not  recorded ;  they  heard  Him  not ; 
they  answered  Him  not.  0  Thou  lonely  Sufferer!  is 
there  then  no  sympathy  for  Thee  in  the  wide  world — 
only  in  God ! 

For  the  third  time  He  retires  to  pray,  saying  the  same 
words.  Returning  to  the  still  sleeping  disciples,  He  ex- 
claims, "Do  you  sleep  now  and  take  your  rest?  Behold, 
the  hour  is  come !  The  Son  of  man  is  betrayed  into  the 
hands  of  sinners !  Rise  up,  let  us  go !  Lo,  he  that  be- 
trayeth  Me  is  at  hand ! "  Jesus  had  doubtless  caught  a 
glimpse  of  the  party  with  torches  and  lanterns  that  Judas 
was  at  that  moment  leading  forth  from  the  city.  He  goes 
forth  to  meet  His  betrayer. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

JESUS  BETRAYED:  PETER'S  DENIAL. 

Matthew  xxvi,  47-75.    Mark  xiv.  43-72.    Luke  xxii.  47-62.    John  xtiii.  2-27. 

After  Judas  left  the  supper-room,  he  prosecuted  his 
horrible  enterprise  with  extraordinary  energy.  The 
arrangements  which  were  made,  at  his  instigation,  for 
the  apprehension  of  Jesus,  were  not  only  complete  but 
needlessly  elaborate.  The  officers  cf  the  Sanhedrim 
gathered  around  them  a  promiscuous  multitude,  armed 
with  swords  and  staves ;  and  a  detachment  of  the  Roman 
cohort — if  not  the  cohort  itself* — quartered  in  the  tower 
of  Antonia,  was  secured  from  the  proper  authorities. 
These  preparations  were  prompted  both  by  fear  and 
policy.  There  may  have  be^n  in  the  mind  of  the  trai- 
tor— perhaps  also  in  the  minds  of  the  rulers  themselves — 
a  vague  apprehension  of  some  terrible  supernatural  in- 
terference ;  they  had  more  reason  to  look  for  an  attempt 
at  rescue  by  the  multitude ;  and  m  any  case,  it  was  the 
part  of  policy  to  demonstrate  by  ostentatious  and  exag- 
gerated precautions,  the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from 
Jesus  and  His  party.  The  band  was  provided  with  lan- 
terns and  torches,  not  only  because  this  was  usual  in  all 
military  expeditions  by  night,  but  also  because,  though  it 
was  then  full  moon,  it  might  be  necessary  to  search  for 

*Such  is  the  meanina:  of  the  word  translated  "  band  "  in  Jolin  xviii.  3. 
44 


690  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

their  prisoner  among  the  rocks  and  caves  which  ahounded 
in  the  valley,  or  among  the  trees  and  vines  of  the  garden. 
Judas,  having  first  promised  to  identify  Jesus  by  kiss- 
ing Him,  led  forth  the  multitude  towards  Gethsemane ; 
for  he  knew  that  Jesus  often  resorted  thither.  The  tramp 
of  so  many  armed  men  must  have  sounded  through  the 
deep  and  narrow  valley ;  and  our  Lord  seems  to  have 
heard  the  sound  and  seen  the  glare  of  the  torches  while 
He  was  yet  in  the  depth  of  the  garden.  Hastily  rousing 
His  sleeping  "disciples,  He  advanced  to  the  entrance,  just 
as  Judas,  walking  a  little  before  the  band,  was  passing 
in.  With  affected  haste,  the  traitor  approached  Him,  and 
sa}' ing,  "  Master,  Master ! "  kissed  Him.  Jesus,  with  regal 
calmness  and  majesty,  replied,  "  Friend,  wherefore  art 
thou  come?"  Then,  doubtless  in  a  changed  voice,  and 
with  a  terrible  emphasis.  He  added,  "Judas,  betrayest 
thou  the  Son  of  man  with  a  kiss?"  Not  pausing,  how- 
ever, for  a  moment.  He  passed  out  to  meet  the  officers 
and  the  multitude.  As  He  stood  there  in  the  moonlight, 
and  under  the  red  glare  of  the  torches,  with  the  traces 
of  His  divine  sorrow  upon  His  countenance,  and  the 
majesty  of  innocence  stamped  upon  His  brow,  the  multi- 
tude were  struck  with  awe.  "  ^Yl;om  seek  ye?"  He 
asked.  He  had  a  reason  for  ascertaining  just  how  far 
their  Avarrant  extended.  When  they  answered  "  Jesus  of 
Nazareth/'  He  re;joined,  "  I  am  He."  The  words  were  ut- 
tered with  such  godlike  power,  and  accompanied  by  such 
an  outflashing  of  glory,  that  they  started  back,  as  if 
struck  by  a  thunder-bolt,  and  fell  to  the  ground.  So  the 
Nazarenes  had  been  overpowered  when  they  were  about 
to  kill  him ;  so  the  buyers  and  sellers  had  been  expelled 
from  the  temple  by  the  terror  of  His  presence.  On  this 
occasion  it  was  not  His  purpose  to  paral3'ze  His  enemies, 
and  so  escape  out  of  their  hands.  Therefore,  He  reas- 
sured them  by  asking  again,  "Whom  seek  ye?"     Again 


THE    BETRAYAL.  691 

they  said,  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  "  I  have  told  you,"  He 
answered  "  that  I  am  He.  If  therefore  ye  seek  Me,  let 
these  go  their  wa3^"  Thus  it  appears  that  Jesus  had 
hastened  to  the  entrance  of  the  garden,  in  order  to  pro- 
tect His  disciples,  whom  He  had  left  there  when  He  re- 
tired to  praj^  John  recognized  in  this,  a  fulfillment  of 
the  saying  in  His  last  prayer,  "Of  them  which  Thou 
gavest  Me  have  I  lost  none."  There  was  a  close  con- 
nection between  this  temporal  deliverance,  and  their 
eternal  salvation. 

In  these  last  words  Jesus  recognized  the  authority  of 
the  officers,  and  virtually  surrendered  Himself  This  gave 
them  courage  to  lay  hands  upon  His  person.  We  can 
not  think  of  this  indignity  offered  to  the  Son  of  God 
without  horror;  and  we  do  not  therefore  wonder  that 
the  disciples,  cried  out :  "  Lord,  shall  we  smite  with  the 
sword  ?  "  Or  that  Peter,  seeing  that  they  were  about  to 
Ijind  his  Master,  drew  his  sword,  and  aimed  a  deadly  blow 
at  the  High  Priest's  servant,  who  was  probably  most  for- 
ward and  unfeeling  in  the  perpetration  of  the  outrage. 
Jesus  reproved  his  rashness,  saying:  "Put  up  again  thy 
sword  into  its  place  ;  for  all  they  that  take  the  sword  shall 
perish  with  the  sword.  Thinkest  thou  that  I  can  not  now 
pray  to  My  Father,  and  He  shall  presently  give  Me  more 
than  twelve  legions  of  angels  ?  But  how  then  shall  the 
Scriptures  be  fulfilled  that  thus  it  must  be  ?  The  cup 
w^hich  my  Father  hath  given  Me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?" 
Had  He  not  said,  a  little  while  before,  in  His  agony :  "  0 
My  Father,  if  this  cup  may  not  pass  away  from  JNIe,  ex- 
cept I  drink  it,  Thy  Avill  be  done?"  Having  thus  de- 
clared to  men  what  He  had  before  said  to  God,  that  He 
yielded  Himself  up  to  suffering  and  death,  He  healed  the 
servant's  ear.  Thus  the  fier}^  and  headlong  but  not 
"  coward  "  Peter,  escaped  being  arrested  with  his  Master. 
Judged  by  an  earthly  standard,  Peter  was  not  onh^  brave, 


692  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIKIST. 

but  fool-hardy;  for  he  clrew  his  sword  on  this  occasion,  in 
the  face  of  hundreds  of  armed  men.  But  for  the  majesty 
of  our  Lord's  presence,  and  the  miracle,  he  would  have 
been  instantly  cut  down.  That  Roman  cohort,  we  con- 
jecture, did  not  usually  spare  any  who  resisted  them  with 
drawn  swords  in  the  execution  of  their  orders. 

Jesus,  while  patiently  submitting  to  be  bound,  had  a 
keen  sense  of  the  insulting  cruelty  of  the  treatment  to 
which  He  was  subjected.  In  words  of  true  dignity  He 
said  to  the  multitude  :  "Are  ye  come  out  as  against  a  thief, 
with  swords  and  staves,  to  take  me  ?  When  I  was  daily 
with  you  in  the  temple,  ye  stretched  forth  no  hands 
against  Me ;  but  this  is  your  hour,  and  the  power  of 
darkness."  At  this  moment,  the  disciples,  seeing  their 
Master  bound  in  the  hands  of  His  enemies,  and  inferring 
from  His  words  that  He  would  not  deliver  Himself  out 
of  their  hands,  suddenly  forsook  Him  and  fled.  Two  or 
three  of  them,  including  Peter  and  John,  lingered  near 
the  place,  and  finally  followed  the  procession  into  the 
city ;  but  of  the  others  we  hear  no  more  till  after  the 
resurrection.  While,  however,  the  apostles  fled  away 
into  the  darkness,  there  occurred  an  unexpected  and 
touching  instance  of  enthusiastic  devotion.  A  young 
man,  who,  it  seems,  had  been  roused  from  his  bed  by  the 
tumult,  and  had  rushed  out  in  his  linen  night-cloth,  find- 
ing that  Jesus  had  been  seized  by  his  enemies,  fell  into 
the  procession,  and  drawn  by  love,  followed  the  Lord, 
utterly  forgetful  of  his  half-naked  condition.  He  was 
made  sensible  of  his  imprudence,  when  the  young  men 
of  the  crowd  roughly  laid  hold  of  him.  Eluding  their 
grasp  by  leaving  the  linen  cloth  in  their  hands,  he  escaped 
by  flight.  Tradition  says  that  this  young  man,  was  John 
Mark,  the  author  of  the  second  gospel,  in  which  alone 
the  incident  is  recorded. 

Behold  the  Son  of  man,  with  His  hands  bound  together 


JESUS    AT    THE    UIGII    PHIEST's    PALACE.  G93 

like  tlaose  of  a  criminal,  walking  meekly  amidst  Ilis  ene- 
mies, towards  the  city-gate,  and  thence  to  the  palace  of 
the  high  priest;  perhaps  we  should  not  err  if  we  called 
it  the  dwelling  of  the  high  priests ;  for  both  Annas  and 
Caiaphas,  his  son-in-law,  bore  the  title.  The  latter,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  the  legal  and  acting  high  priest ;  but  the 
former  wielded  the  real  power  belonging  to  tiie  of  lice, 
and  was  perhaps  revered  by  the  people  as  the  high  priest 
de  jure. 

That  we  may  understand  the  narrative  as  given  by 
the  several  evangelists,  it  is  necessary  that  we  should 
frame  some  probable  conception  of  the  localities  men- 
tioned. Though  we  do  not  know  where  the  palace  of  the 
high  priest  was  situated,  its  plan  of  construction  was 
probably  like  that  of  other  oriental  houses.  "An  oriental 
house,"  says  Dr.  Edward  Robinson,  "is  usually  built  around 
a  quadrangular  interior  court ;  into  which  there  is  a  jias- 
sage,  sometimes  arched,  through  the  front  part  of  the 
house,  closed  next  the  street  by  a  heavy  folding  gate,  \<\\\\ 
a  smaller  wicket  for  single  persons,  kept  by  a  porter."* 
The  house  of  Caiaphas  was  undoubtedly  of  this  descrip- 
tion. The  interior  court  is  called  by  the  evangelists  the 
hall  and  the  palace  ;  and  the  passage  into  the  street  be- 
neath the  front  of  the  house,  the  jjoreh.  It  is  almost  cer- 
tain that  Annas  and  Caiaphas  resided  in  the  same  palace. 
Surely  on  such  a  night  as  this,  Annas,  the  real  ecclesiasti- 
cal head  of  the  nation,  if  not,  as  many  think,  the  actual 
president  of  the  Sanhedrim,  would  be  near  his  son-in- 
law,  to  direct  his  movements.  It  is  quite  probable  that 
he  occupied  rooms  in  one  wing  of  the  palace,  which 
must  have  been  of  considerable  extent.  To  him  Jesus 
was  first  taken,  perhaps  at  His  own  request,  possibly  out 
of  deference  to  his  age  and  acknowledged  preeminence 


*  Harmony,  note,  page  207. 


694  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

in  the  hierarchy.  Caiaphas  was  but  his  shadow  and  echcv ; 
and  it  is  impossible  to  decide  from,  the  inspired  history 
when  they  acted  separately  and  when  together. 

After  Jesus  had  disappeared  within  the  gate  of  the  pal- 
ace, two  of  His  disciples,  Peter,  and  another  who  is  nam-e- 
less,*  were  following  at  a  distance,  the  former  lingering 
behind  the  latter.  Peter  was  agitated  by  conflicting  emo- 
tions. He  was  irresistibly  drawn  by  his  love  to  his  Mas- 
ter to  the  place  of  His  trial;  the  feeling  which  prompted 
the  exclamation, — "  I  am  ready  to  go  with  Thee  both  into 
prison  and  to  death,"  was  yet  in  his  heart;  but  he  had 
now  a  vivid  sense  of  the  danger  which  threatened  himself 
as  well  as  his  Lord.  Did  he  not  apprehend  an  encounter 
with  Malchus,  whose  ear  he  had  wounded,  or  w^ith  some 
one  who  had  witnessed  the  blow  ?  That  he  followed  afar 
off  did  not  imply  extraordinary  timidity;  that  he  followed 
at  all  was  a  proof  of  unusual  courage.  The  other  disci- 
ple, who  was  known  to  the  High  Priest  and  his  household, 
was  admitted  by  the  portress  without  hesitation;  but 
Peter,  a  stranger,  coming  a  moment  later,  was  excluded. 
His  fellow-disciple,  finding  that  Peter  had  not  followed 
him  into  the  palace,  returned,  and  by  a  word  to  the  por- 
tress, secured  his  admission. 

The  apostle,  seeing  a  fire  of  coals,  in  the  open  court, 
sat  down  with  the  servants  to  Avarm  himself,  but  his  in- 
ward disquiet  caused  him  soon  to  rise.  Something  in  his 
manner  having  attracted  the  notice  of  the  sharp-sighted 
portress,  she  came  forward,  and  said,  "  This  man  was  with 
Jesus  of  Nazareth? — Art  thou  not,"  she  asked  directly, 
"one  of  this  man's  disciples?" — Peter's  courage  at  once 
vanished,  not,  probably,  because  he  apprehended  danger 
by  reason  of  his  connection  with  Jesus,  but  rather  in  con- 

*  Some  say  John, — why,  except  to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  guessing,  I  can 
not  imagine. 


PETEKS    DENIAL.  695 

sequence  of  his  attempt  on  the  life  of  Malchus.  Here, 
in  the  High  Priest's  house,  among  the  fellow-servants  of 
the  man  whom  he  had  intended  to  slay,  a  recognition 
might  cost  him  his  life.  This  construction  of  Peter's  mo- 
tives is  not  only  charitable  but  just;  and  it  ought  not 
for  a  moment  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  this  narrative.  Peter's 
first  denial,  though  apparently  strong,  was  in  form  a  little 
ambiguous ;  "  I  know  not  what  thou  sayest."  Pressed, 
perhaps,  with  other  questions,  he  boldly  declared  that  he 
knew  not  Jesus,  and  was  not  His  disciple.  It  would  seem 
that  each  so-called  denial  was  made  up  of  several  denials 
on  the  same  occasion.  Having  silenced  the  portress,  Peter, 
conscience-stricken,  resolved  to  retire ;  but  on  reaching 
the  porch,  another  maid,  who  perhaps  had  taken  the  place 
of  the  former  at  the  gate,  said  to  those  who  were  stand- 
ing near,  "  This  fellow  was  also  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth." 
Peter  was  now  thoroughly  alarmed ;  believing  that  he  was 
an  object  of  general  suspicion,  he  denied  with  an  oath 
any  connection  with  the  Lord.  To  avert  suspicion,  he 
determined  to  remain  in  the  palace  till  he  could  with- 
draw without  exciting  attention.  For  a  whole  hour  he 
continued  in  the  hall,  probably  conversing  with  many, 
till  at  length  his  uncouth  Galilean'  dialect — differing  from 
the  Aramean  of  Jerusalem  like  that  of  Yorkshire  from 
the  English  of  London  and  New  York — again  awakened 
suspicion.  "  What  has  brought  a  Galilean  here,  in  the 
night,  except  his  interest  in  the  fate  of  Jesus  ?  His  dis- 
ciples are  all  Galileans:" — so  they  seem  to  have  reasoned. 
At  length  one  of  the  company  said  to  him,  '•'  Surely,  thou 
art  one  of  them ',  thou  art  a  Galilean ;  for  thy  speech  be- 
wrayeth  thee."  Peter,  driven  to  extremity,  broke  out  into 
horrible  oaths,  declaring,  even  swearing,  that  he  knew  not 
the  man  of  whom  they  spoke.  At  that  moment  in  the 
midst  of  his  imprecations  the  cock  crew,  and  Peter  came 
to  himself     At  the  same  moment,  Jesus,  as  He  was  led 


696  THE    LIFE    OF    CHEIST. 

through  the  hall,  turned  and  looked  on  Peter.  That  look 
broke  "li :  heart.  It  was  a  look,  not  of  anger,  scarcely 
of  reproach,  but  of  divine  grief  and  pity.  Peter  thought 
no  longer  of  his  personal  danger,  of  the  obstacles  to  his 
retreat,  or  of  anything  but  his  great  sin.  He  Avho  ought 
to  have  been  ready  to  testify  in  behalf  of  his  Master, 
had  again  and  again  denied  Him  even  with  oatlis  and 
execrations.  The  sin  was  indeed  great;  and  when  he 
thought  thereon  he  wept.  His  repentance  was  deep  and 
bitter,  and  it  followed  swiftly  on  the  heels  of  his  sin. 

Let  not  the  warm-hearted,  impulsive  apostle  be  judged 
too  harshly.  He  was,  not  a  perfect  Christian,  but  a  brave 
and  noble  man.  He  had  all  those  qualities  which  would 
have  made  a  brilliant  soldier, — daring,  generosity,  devo- 
tion ;  he  was  ready  to  strike  Avith  the  sword,  even  with 
fearful  odds  against  him. ;  he  followed  Jesus  into  the  midst 
of  His  enemies ;  and  we  must  not  for  a  moment  supj^ose 
that  his  denial  was  of  the  nature  of  treason,  or  renuncia- 
tion of  his  Lord.  It  was  a  stratagem  intended  to  deceive 
his  questioners  and  secure  his  personal  safety.  It  was 
such  a  stratagem  as  many  of  our  brave  soldiers  employed, 
during  the  late  civil  war,  to  save  their  lives  when  they 
fell  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies.  How  many  of  them 
denied  that  they  were  soldiers  of  the  Union,  and  even 
professed  to  belong  to  the  other  party?  AYe  do  not 
therefore  call  them  cowards  and  traitors,  but  hold  many 
of  them  in  honor,  as  brave  men  and  true.  Peter  fell  into 
the  thoroughly  oriental  sins  of  lying  and  swearing;  bat  it 
w^as,  as  he  believed,  to  save  his  life.  His  deep,  tender  love 
to  his  Master,  through  the  whole  of  that  terrible  trial,  is 
apparent  from  the  fact  that  one  look  from  Jesus  brought 
him  instantly  to  repentance.  All  we  can  say  is,  that  he 
was  not  as  yet  qualified  for  the  crown  of  martyrdom. 
How  could  he  have  been  when  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not 
yet  given  ? 


CHAPTER    XII. 
THE  TRIAL  OF   JESUS. 

JESUS    BEFORE    ANNAS — JESUS    BEFORE    THE    SANHEDRni. 
Matthew  xxvi.  57-68;  xxvii.  1-26.    Mark  xiv.  53-65;  xv.  1-15.    Luke  xxii.  63-71;  xxiii.  1-25. 

Mentio]^  has  been  often  made,  in  the  course  of  this 
history,  of  the  great  council  or  court  of  the  Jewish  church, 
called  the  Sanhedrim.  As  Jesus  is  about  to  be  put  on 
trial  before  that  body,  it  becomes  important  to  explain 
its  constitution,  its  powers,  and  its  method  of  procedure. 
It  was  composed  of  seventy,  some  say  seventy-one  mem- 
bers, among  whom  were  the  chief  iwiests,  or  heads  of  the 
twenty-four  classes  into  which  the  priesthood  was  divided  ; 
the  elders,  men  of  age  and  experience  who  were  held  in 
reverence  for  wisdom  ;  and  the  scribes,  who  had  made  the 
law  a  special  study.  The  High  Priest,  and  those  who  had 
filled  the  office,  were  members  ex  officio.  The  officers 
of  this  court  were  the  president,  often  if  not  always, 
the  High  Priest;  the  vice-president,  who  was  called  the 
father  of  the  hall  of  judgment ;  and  two  secretaries,  one 
of  whom  recorded  the  votes  for  acquittal,  and  the  other, 
those  for  condemnation.  Tlie  usual  place  of  meeting  was 
a  stone  chamber,  called  Gazith,  at  the  south-east  angle  of 
the  temple  enclosure,  though  on  extraordinary  occasions 
the  court  assembled  at  the  palace  of  the  High  Priest. 
The  members  sat  in  the  form  ^f  a  semicircle,  in  front  of 
the  president  and  vice-president.    The  jurisdiction  of  this 


G98  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

court  extended  to  all  ecclesiastical  offenses,  especially  to 
idolatry,  blasphemy,  and  religious  imposture,  as  by  false 
prophets  and  false  Christs.  Not  many  years  before  the 
trial  of  our  Lord,  the  power  of  life  and  death  had  been 
taken  away  from  the  Sanhedrim,  and  vested  in  the  Roman 
procurator.  The  Talmud  says  that  this  change  Avas  made 
forty  years  previous  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
Consequently,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  this  tribunal  could 
do  no  more  than  pass  sentence  of  death ;  its  execution 
depended  on  the  will  of  the  governor. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Sanhedrim  were  ordinarily  con- 
ducted in  strict  accordance  with  establishe-d  rules  and 
precedents.  It  was  an  essential  rule  that  no  capital  case 
should  be  tried  at  a  night  session;  and  that  sentence 
should'  not  be  pronounced  till  after  at  least  one  adjourn- 
ment. Both  these  rules  were  violated  in  the  trial  of  our 
Lord.  The  members  regarded  His  case  as  extraordinary, 
and  they  hurried  through  it,  lest  their  purpose  should  be 
frustrated  by  a  sudden  rising  of  the  people.  They  had 
in  fact  prejudged  the  case.  It  had  been  long  before  de- 
termined that  Jesus  should  die ;  and  the  judicial  process 
now  pushed  to  an  issue  was  intended  to  throw  a  decent 
veil  over  the  murder. 

It  was  probably  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  Jesus 
was  brought  before  the  hoary  inquisitor,  Annas.  It  seems 
probable  that  he,  and  not  Caiaphas,  conducted  the  pre- 
liminary and  comparatively  private  examination.  It  was 
his  purpose  to  draw  from  Jesus  Himself  something  which 
might  be  made  the  ground  of  a  formal  accusation.  He 
therefore  questioned  Him  touching  the  matter  of  His 
teaching,  and  the  number  of  His  disciples.  He  assumed 
that  Jesus  had  a  secret  doctrine,  and  that  He  w^as  the 
head  of  a  secret  society.  Thi;^  insinuation  our  Lord  re- 
pelled. "  I  spake  openly  to  the  world  ;  I  ever  taught  in 
the    synagogue,  and   in   the    temple,  whither  the  Jews 


THE    TRIAL    OF    JESUS.  G99 

always  resort;  and  in  secret  have  I  said  nothing."  This 
was  strictly  true ;  for  though  Jesus  had  taught  His  disci- 
ples privately,  He  had  taught  no  secret  doctrine ;  but  on 
the  contrary  had  uniformly  charged  them  to  proclaim 
openly  what  they  had  thus  learned.  In  His  answer  to 
Annas  He  declined  to  say  ichat  He  had  taught ;  for  He 
saw  that  a  snare  was  laid  for  Him,  perhaps  also  for  His 
disciples.  "  Why  askest  thou  Me  ?  Ask  them  who  heard 
Me,  what  I  have  said  unto  them ;  behold  they  know  what 
I  said."  At  this  moment  one  of  the  officers  who  had 
Jesus  in  custody  struck  Him,  probably  on  the  mouth,  with 
his  open  hand,  saying,  "Answerest  Thou  the  high  priest 
so?"  The  Lord,  exemplifying  His  own  precept,*  calmly 
said,  "  If  I  have  spoken  evil,  bear  witness  of  the  evil ; 
but  if  well,  why  smitest  thou  Me?"  That  blow  on  the 
face  of  the  Lamb  of  God  still  sounds  through  the  world. 
Consider:  He  stood  there  bound. 

Annas  did  not  reprove  or  punish  the  unlawful  outrage ; 
but  finding  that  he  could  elicit  nothing  of  importance 
from  the  Prisoner,  sent  Him  in  His  bonds, — adding  per- 
haps, another  chain — to  Caiaphas.f  It  was  probably  while 
Jesus  was  passing  through  the  court  or  hall,  on  His  way  to 
the  apartments  of  Caiaphas,  that  He  turned  and  looked 
on  Peter,  who  had  just  denied  Him  for  the  third  time.  It 
must  have  been  now  between  three  and  four  o'clock  in 
the  morning. 

Meanwhile  the  members  of  the  Sanhedrim  had  been 
assembling,  having  been  summoned  perhaps  by  special 
messengers.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  full  attendance; 
and  they  came  together  for  earnest  work.  What  was  to 
be  done  was  well  understood  ;  but  how  to  do  it  occasioned 


*  Matthew  V.  39 

fJohn  xviii.  24.      "Annas  sent  Him  bound" — not  '' had  sent, 
tlie  authorized  version. 


700  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

them  no  little  perplexity.  It  was  necessary  that  some 
distinct  accusation  should  be  brought  forward  ;  and  that 
the  crime  charged  should  be  a  capital  one.  Now  Jesus 
had,  according  to  the  bigoted  views  of  the  Pharisees,  been 
guilty  of  breaking  the  Sabbath  by  healing  on  that  day; 
and  He  had  professed  to  forgive  sins,  which  they  con- 
strued as  blasphemy;  but  these  were  not  offenses  which 
they  ventured  to  prosecute  before  such  a  tribunal  as  the 
Sanhedrim,  composed  in  part  of  Sadducees.  Yet  it  seemed 
easier  to  establish  a  charge  of  blasphemy  than  any  other ; 
and  this  seems  to  have  been  the  substance,  at  least,  of 
the  indictment  on  which  He  was  tried.  Many  witnesses 
were  brought  forward ;  but  their  testimony  was  so  con- 
tradictory that  they  were  speedily  put  aside.  Though 
Jesus  was  silent  and  had  no  advocate.  His  judges  felt 
that  He  could  not  be  convicted  without  positive  proof  of 
some  overt  oftense.  Among  other  witnesses,  two  came  for- 
ward, who  testified  that  they  heard  him  say  on  one  occa- 
sion: "I  will  destroy  this  temple  that  is  made  with  hands, 
and  within  three  days  I  will  build  another  made  without 
hands."  These  men  had  probably  been  present  in  the 
temple,  some  three  years  before,  when  Jesus  in  answer 
to  the  demand  of  the  Jews  for  a  sign  said  to  them :  "De- 
stroy tliis  temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up;"* 
and  it  is  barely  possible  that  they  understood  Him  as  ut- 
tering a  threat  against  the  temple,  which  many  at  least 
would  have  regarded  as  blasphemy;  but  the  Sanhedrim 
saw  not  only  that  the  witnesses  did  not  agree  in  report- 
ing His  words,  but  that,  if  really  spoken,  those  words  were 
at  worst  but  a  vain-glorious  boast,  and  in  no  sense  blas- 
phemous. No  other  witnesses  appearing,  the  High  Priest, 
perplexed  and  alarmed,  started  from  his  seat,  and  said  to 
Jesus:   "Answerest  Thou   nothing?     What  is  it  which 

*  John  xi   19. 


THE    TPJAL    OF   JESUS.  701 

these  witness  against  Thee?"  Jesus  was  still  silent. 
Then  Caiaphas,  availing  himself  of  a  pre^rogative  of  his 
office,  put  the  Lord  under  oath:  "I  adjure  Thee  by  the 
living  God  that  Thou  tell  us  whether  Thou  be  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God?"  Thus  adjured  by  the  theocratic  head 
of  the  nation,  Jesus  answered :  "  I  am  ;  and  ye  shall 
SEE  THE  Son  of  man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of 

POWER  AND  COMING  IN  THE  CLOUDS  OF  HEAVEN." 

Let  it  be  noted  that  these  words  were  spoken  by  our 
Lord,  under  oath,  when  on  trial  for  His  life.  lie  knew 
when  He  uttered  them,  that  He  sealed  His  own  doom,  so 
far  as  it  lay  in  the  hands  of  His  judges.  His  person  and 
mission  had  been  to  multitudes  in  His  own  day,  as  it  is  to 
multitudes  in  ours,  a  mystery.  He  had  once  before  said  in 
so  many  words,  /  am  the  Christ,  but  it  had  been  to  a  Sa- 
maritan woman ;  and  He  had  permitted  His  disciples  to 
profess  their  faith  in  Him  as  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God ;  but  He  had  charged  them '  to  tell  no  man ; 
and  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  Sanhedrim  to 
prove  that  He  claimed  to  be  the  Messiah.  They  were, 
indeed,  morally  certain  that  He  had  put  Himself  before 
the  people  in  that  character ;  but  they  were  compelled, 
at  last,  to  seek  for  legal  evidence  at  His  own  lips. 

It  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  a  declaration  that  He 
was  the  Christ  would  in  itself  be  accounted  blasphemy; 
but  when  joined  to  the  assertion  of  His  Divine  Sonship,  it 
might  easily  seem  to  rise  into  that  fearful  sin.  On  a 
former  occasion  the  Jews  had  "  sought  to  kill  Him,  be- 
cause He  had  not  only  broken  the  Sabbath,  but  said  also 
that  God  was  His  Father,  making  Himself  equal  with 
God ; "  *  and  when  afterwards  He  said  in  terms  still  more 
explicit :  "  I  and  My  Father  are  one,"  they  took  up  stones 

to  stone  Him,  saying  :  "  We  stone  Thee  for  blasphemy,  and 

• 

*Johnv.  18. 


702  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

because  that  Thou,  being  a  man,  makest  Thyself  God."  * 
These  ms-tances  prove  conchisively  that  the  Jews  regarded 
the  assertion  'of  His  Divine  Sonship  as  tantamount  to  a 
declaration  of  His  Deity.  Had  this  been  a  gross  misun- 
derstanding of  His  words,  our  Lord  would  surely  have  set 
them  right.  Had  He  only  meant  to  say  that  He  was  a 
Son  of  God,  He  could  easily  have  removed  from  their 
minds  the  terrible  prejudice  by  which  they  were  over- 
mastered. But  they  had  not  misunderstood  Him;  and 
He  virtually  declared  that  they  had  not. 

It  is  indeed  doubtful  whether  the  Jews  believed  that 
the  Messiah  would  be  the  Son  of  God  in  this  high  and 
peculiar  sense,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  High  Priest,  w^ho 
had  heard  how  constantly  Jesus  spoke  of  God  as  His 
Father,  intended  by  his  artful  question  to  draw  from  Him  a 
declaration  of  His  Divinity  as  well  as  of  His  Messiahship. 
And  such  a  declaration,  even  more  full  and  explicit  than 
he  could  have  expected,  followed  his  solemn  and  authori- 
tative adjuration.  Jesus  then  and  there  calmly  witnessed 
that  He  was  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Blessed  ;  that  He 
was  God  manifest  in  the  flesh ;  that  He  w^as  the  rightful 
King  and  Judge  of  the  world.  Hearing  His  words,  the 
High  Priest  rent  his  clothes ;  and  not  waiting  for  the 
formal  verdict  of  the  Sanhedrim,  pronounced  Him  guilty 
of  blasphemy.  By  a  unanimous  vote  He  was  sentenced  to 
death.  Jesus,  silent  and  bound,  was  now  subjected  to  cruel 
indignities.  They  spat  upon  Him  ;  they  blindfolded  Him, 
and  then  buffeted  and  smote  Him  with  the  palms  of  their 
hands,  saying  :  "  Prophesy  unto  us,  Thou  Christ ;  who  is 
it  that  smote  Thee?"  "He  was  oppressed,  and  He  w\as 
afflicted,  yet  He  opened  not  His  mouth  ;  He  is  brought  as 
a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers 
is  dumb,  so  He  opened  not  His  mouth."  t 

*  Jolin  X.  30.  tTsai:ih  liii.  7. 


THE    THIxVL    OF    JESUS.  703 

This  meeting  of  the  Sanhe(h-iin  was  irreguUir  in  re- 
spect both  to  time  and  place.  To  give  legal  ellect  to  the 
proceedings,  the  judges  deemed  it  necessary  to  hold  a 
formal  session  in  the  morning.  They  therefore  led  Him, 
apparently  in  a  large  and  formal  procession,  from  the 
High  Priest's  palace  into  their  own  council  chamber  on 
the  temple  mount.  At  this  session  they  examined  no 
witnesses,  but  questioned  our  Lord  Himself:  "Art  Thou 
the  Christ?  tell  us."  They  did  not  now  ask  Him  whether 
He  was  the  Son  of  God  ;  for  they  were  now  anxious  to 
give  a  political  complexion  to  His  offense.  They  were 
about  to  carry  the  case  to  Pilate,  the  procurator ;  and 
they  knew  how  little  importance  he  would  attach  to  a 
charge  of  blasphemy.  Jesus,  perceiving  their  purpose, 
gave  a  less  explicit  answer  than  they  expected :  "  If  I 
tell  you,  ye  will  not  believe.  And  if  I  also  ask  you,  ye 
will  not  answer  Me,  nor  let  Me  go.  Hereafter  shall  the 
Son  of  man  sit  on  the  right  hand  of  the  power  of  God." 
Your  interrogations  are  all  intended,  not  to  satisfy  your 
minds  in  regard  to  My  guilt  or  innocence,  but  to  bring 
about  My  death.  You  have  prejudged  My  case;  you 
have  determined  on  My  death;  but  be  assured  that  here- 
after I  shall  be  the  Judge  and  you  the  culprits  at  My 
bar.  My  judicial  function  will  be  exercised  in  that  world 
to  which  yours  will  not  extend.  He  called  Himself  now 
the  Son  of  man ;  not  the  Messiah,  or  the  Son  of  God. 
"Art  Thou,  then,"  they  asked,  "the  Son  of  God?  And 
He  said  unto  them,  Ye  say  that  I  am;"  or,  I  am.  It  is 
necessary  that  He  should  solemnly  declare  again  and 
again,  His  true  character;  for  it  must  appear  that  they 
rejected  and  condemned  Him  in  that  character.  And 
this  they  did  not  shrink  from  doing :  "  What  need  we 
any  further  witnesses  ?  for  we  ourselves  have  heard  of 
His  own  mouth."  The  sentence  of  death  followed  as  a 
matter  of  course. 


704  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIKIST. 

They  must  at  this  stage  of  their  proceedings  have 
sorely  felt  their  national  humiliation.  They  could,  in- 
deed, pass  sentence,  but  they  could  not  carry  it  into  effect 
without  an  express  order  from  the  procurator,  Pontius 
Pilate.  The  case  must  be  carried  to  him.  What  they 
knew  of  his  character,  and  of  Roman  law^,  seems  to  have 
caused  them  some  misgivings  touching  the  issue  of  their 
prosecution ;  but  they  had  among  them  cunning  and  de- 
termined men,  who  devised  a  plan  of  procedure  which 
could  scarcely  fail  of  success.  This  was  to  go  in  a  body 
to  Pilate,  inform  him  that  they  had  tried  the  prisoner  and 
condemned  Ilim  to  death,  and  request  his  approval  of 
the  sentence.  They  probably  hoped  that  he  would  grant 
their  request  without  any  investigation  of  the  charges. 
Should  this  foil,  they  resolved  to  accuse  Him,  not  of 
blasphemy,  a  light  oflense  in  the  eyes  of  a  Roman  magis- 
trate, but  of  crimes  against  civil  order  and  the  authority 
of  the  emperor.  Meanwhile,  we  can  not  doubt  that  their 
emissaries  were  instructed  to  stir  up  the  mob  of  Jerusa- 
lem to  clamor  for  the  death  of  Jesus.  To  effect  this, 
nothing  more  would  be  necessary  than  to  report  that 
He  had  been  convicted  by  the  Sanhedrim  of  blasphemy. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 
JESUS   BEFORE  PILATE   AND   HEROD. 

POLITICAL  CONDITIO-N  OF  JUUKA  AX  THIS  TIME — TIIK  Ol'l'ICE  OV  I'UOCU- 
RATOR — PONTIUS  I'lr.ATE — HIS  ANTECEDKNTS — HIS  CHARACTER — JESUS 
IS  BROUGHT  HKKORE  IIIM — EXAMINATION — HEROD — PILATE'S  FRUITLESS 
STRUGGLE  TO  RELEASE  JESUS — DELIVERS  IIIM  TO  RE  CRUCIFIED  — 
JUDAS. 

Mattuew  XXVII.  1-30.    Mark  XV.  1-19.    Lukk  xxui.  1-25.    John  xviii.  2S- 10;  xix.  1-10. 

JuDEA  was  at  this  time  a  subordinate  division  of  the 
great  province  of  Syria,  and  was  governed  by  n  procurator 
who  was  responsible  to  the  proconsul.  Though  a  procu- 
rator was  in  most  cases  but  the  fiscal  agent  of  the  emperor, 
authorized  to  collect  the  revenue  and  to  act  as  judge  in 
causes  connected  with  it,  he  was  not  seldom  the  head  of 
the  administration,  both  civil  and  military. 

The  procurator  of  Judea,  in  the  time  of  our  Lord,  was 
Pontius  Pilate.  Of  liis  history  littl(i  is  known,  but  that 
little  warrants  the  belief  that  he  was  a  Roman  officer  of 
avernge  capacity,  deeply  imbued  with  the  pride  «Mnd  prej- 
udices of  his  class,  and  resolute,  sometimes  cruel,  in 
asserting  the  rights  of  his  imperial  master,  and  in  main- 
taining his  personal  authority.  Appointed  procurator  in 
llio  twelfth  year  of  Tiberius,  (A.  D.  25-0)  by  one  of  his 
first  acts,  he  outraged,  through  ignorance  or  contempt, 
the  deepest  convictions  and  prejudices  of  the  Jewish 
heart.  In  rrMjioviiig  }ii«  head-quarters  from  Cesarea  to 
Jerusalem,  he  permitted  if  he  did  not  onler  his  soldiers 
to  carry  their  standards,  bearing  the  image  of  the  emperor, 
45 


706  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

into  the  Holy  City.  As  soon  as  the  sacrilege — so  the  Jews 
regarded  it — was  known,  the  people  flocked  in  crowds 
to  Cesarea,  and  besonscht  Pilate  to  remove  the  imaares. 
After  resisting  their  importunity  five  days,  during  which 
he  seems  to  have  seriously  meditated  the  general  mas- 
sacre with  which  he  threatened  them,  he  yielded,  and 
ordered  the  standards  back  to  Cesarea.  At  another  time 
he  nearly  drove  the  Jews  to  insurrection  by  suspending 
in  his  palace  at  Jerusalem,  some  gilt  shields  inscj:'ibed 
with  the  names  of  Roman  gods.  These  were  removed  by 
the  command  of  Tiberius  himself  At  the  time  of  a  riot, 
caused  by  his  diverting  the  sacred  revenue  arising  from 
the  redemption  of  vows,  to  a  secular  purpose,  he  sent 
among  the  multitude  many  soldiers  armed  with  concealed 
daggers,  who  killed  a  great  number,  not  only  of  the 
rioters  but  of  casual  spectators.  To  this  must  be  added 
the  slaughter  of  the  "  Galileans  whose  blood  Pilate  had 
mino^led  wath  their  sacrifices."*  We  infer  from  these 
facts  that  Pilate  was  of  a  severe,  tyrannical  temper ;  and 
it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  he  had  come  to  regard 
the  nation  with  contempt  for  its  fanaticism  and  hatred 
for  its  stubborn  and  rebellious  spirit.  He  was  too  ex- 
perienced a  politician  and  soldier  not  to  know  that  he 
was  standing  on  a  volcano  which  was  every  moment 
ready  to  burst  into  terrible  activity.  He  was  on  his 
guard  against  the  Jewish  rulers,  in  whom  the  old  Mac- 
cabean  spirit  was  not  quite  extinct.  His  attitude  of  mind 
was,  in  general,  that  of  resistance  to  all  their  demands. 
He  had  been  compelled  on  some  occasions  to  yield  and 
temporize ;  but  he  did  it  with  reluctance ;  and  he  never 
forgave  them  the  humiliations  to  which  he  was  thus  sub- 
jected. It  was  the  custom  of  the  procurator,  during  the 
great  festivals,  to  reside  at  Jerusalem,  with  a  military  force 

*Lukc  xiii.  1. 


JESUS    BEFORE    PILATE    AND    HEROD.  707 

sufficient  to  overawe  the  turbulent  multitude  and  prompt- 
ly repress  any  riotous  or  insurrectionary  outbreak.  He 
was  of  course  present  at  this  feast  of  the  Passover. 

The  members  of  the  Sanhedrim  having  passed  judg- 
ment on  Jesus,  led  Him  aw^ay  bound  to  the  palace  of 
Pilate.  As  the  great  festival  had  but  just  commenced, 
and  as  they  would  have  contracted  ceremonial  defilement 
by  entering  the  house  of  a  Gentile,  and  thus  disquahded 
themselves  for  the  feast,  they  remained  without  while 
Pilate  was  notified  of  their  coming.  It  is  not  unlikely 
that  he  was  roused  from  his  bed  by  their  messenger; 
but  when  he  was  told  that  the  Sanhedrim  in  a  body,  with 
the  High  Priest  at  their  head,  were  waiting  at  his  gate, 
he  could  not  well  refuse  to  go  forth  to  meet  them.  He 
must,  one  would  think,  have  been  surprised  when  he  saw 
w'hat  sort  of  prisoner  they  had  brought  to  his  tribunal. 
It  has  been  made  a  question  wdietlier  Pilate  had  ever 
heard  of  Jesus.  That  he  had  no  personal  knowledge  of 
Him  is  probable,  but  he  could  hardly  have  been  ignorant 
of  a  great  popular  movement  like  that  which  sprang  from 
the  teachings  and  miracles  of  our  Lord, — a  movement 
in  continuous  connection  with  the  ministr}^  of  John  the 
Baptist,  and  having  avowed  reference  to  the  King  of 
Israel,  the  long-expected  Messiah.  We  incline  to  the  be- 
lief that  Pilate  had  been  well  informed  touching  the  ex- 
ternal facts  in  the  career  of  Jesus,  and  that  he  had  come 
to  regard  Him  as  a  religious  enthusiast  and  reformer  who, 
by  His  novel  doctrines  and  bold  rebukes,  had  drawn  upon 
Himself  the  wrath  of  the  Jewish  rulers.  He  must  have 
known  of  His  triumphal  entry;  and  he  had  probably  sent 
the  "  band  "  or  cohort  to  assist  in  arresting  Him.  But  he 
certainly  was  not  prejudiced  against  Him;  perhaps  he 
had  even  a  certain  sympathy  with  Him,  as  the  leader  of 
a  party  opposed  to  the  Pharisees  and  rulers.  When,  there- 
fore, he  saw  Him  standing  at  his  gate,  a  prisoner  in  chains, 


708  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

especially  when  he  saw  the  gentleness  and  majesty  of  His 
person,  bearing  marks  of  the  blows  which  He  had  re- 
ceived, He  probably  not  only  recognized  Him  as  the  far- 
famed  Prophet  of  Nazareth,  but  decided  in  his  own  mind 
that  He  was  innocent,  and  that  He  should  not  die. 

"What  accusation,"  said  he  to  the  Sanhedrim,  "bring 
ye  against  this  Man?"  It  must  have  been  either  Caia- 
phas,  or  Annas,  who  answered  in  behalf  of  the  body:  "If 
He  were  not  a  malefactor,  we  would  not  have  delivered 
Him  unto  thee."  It  was  a  haughty  answer.  "  It  is  surely 
sufficient  that  we,  the  Sanhedrim,  have  tried  Him  and 
found  Him  guilty  of  capital  crimes.  This  ought  to  satisfy 
you  of  His  guilt."  Pilate  knows  his  men ;  he  penetrates 
their  plot ;  his  lip  curls  in  scorn ;  he  replies  in  words  of 
terrible  irony,  "Take  ye  Him,  and  judge  Him  according 
to  your  law."  "  Is  it  so  indeed  ?  Am  I  merely  to  con- 
firm your  sentence,  without  being  allowed  to  decide  on 
the  merits  of  the  case?  Then  finish  what  you  have  so 
well  begun.  You  can  dispense  altogether  with  my  au- 
thority." The  leaders  are  suddenly  checkmated,  even  in 
their  first  move.  "  It  is  not  lawful  for  us,"  they  acknowl- 
edge, not  without  ill-concealed  rage,  "  it  is  not  lawful  for 
us  to  put  any  man  to  death."  Compelled  at  last  to  pre- 
sent definite  charges,  they  carefullj^  conceal  the  charge  of 
blasphemy  on  which  they  had  convicted  Him,  and  bring 
forward  a  totally  different  indictment :  "  We  found  this 
fellow  perverting  the  nation,  and  forbidding  to  give  trib- 
ute to  Coesar,  saying  that  He  Himself  is  Christ,  a  King." 
Pilate  must  have  regarded  this  as  a  strange  accusation 
to  come  from  them.  When  had  they  before  prosecuted 
any  man  for  forbidding  the  payment  of  the  imperial  trib- 
ute, or  for  stirrmg  up  the  nation  against  the  Roman  su- 
premacy? Whence  this  sudden  outburst  of  loyal  feeling 
in  the  Jewish  hierarchy  towards  the  emperor?  And  as 
Pilate  looked  at  Jesus,  standing  there  silent  and  bound,  he 


JESUS    BEFOIIE    PUPATE    AND    IIKROD.  709 

probably  did  not  regard  Ilim  as  a  dangerous  rival  to  CcCsar. 
However,  the  charge  was  so  serious  that  Pilate  was  coni' 
pelled  to  go  through  the  form,  at  least,  of  an  investiga- 
tion. He  therefore  retired  to  his  judgment  hall  in  the 
palace,  and  directed  Jesus  to  follow  him. 

When  they  were  alone,  Pilate,  perhaps  not  in  an  un- 
kind but  rather  in  a  half-contemptuous  tone,  asked  "  Art 
Thou  the  King  of  the  Jews?"  The  form  of  the  question 
shows  that  Pilate  had  already  heard  more  of  Jesus  than 
the  Sanhedrim  had  just  told  him.  They  had  accused  Him 
of  saying  that  He  Avas  Christ,  a  King.  Pilate's  question 
looks  as  though  he  had  heard  the  particulars  of  the  tri- 
umphal entry.  Who  indeed  shall  say  but  he  may  have 
witnessed  that  strange  procession,  when  Jesus  entered 
the  city  on  an  ass,  and  the  people  shouted  hosanna  to 
Him  as  the  Son  of  David  ?  If  so,  he  had  penetrated  the 
peaceful  spirit  of  the  movement,  which  he  could  not  have 
regarded  as  dangerous,  though  perhaps  it  struck  hiui  as 
absurd.  "Art  Thou  the  King  of  the  Jews?"  There  was 
perhaps  a  touch  of  real  interest  in  the  tone  of  the  procu- 
rator. The  heart  of  the  stern  man  was  awed  and  soft- 
ened by  the  countenance  and  bearing  of  the  prisoner  at 
his  bar.  He  had  seen  much  of  crime  and  depravity,  but 
he  had  never  before  sat  in  judgment  on  such  a  defend- 
ant. Jesus  saw  the  momentary  emotion  of  His  judge,  and 
said  to  him,  "Sayest  thou  this  thing  of  thyself,  or  did 
others  tell  it  thee  of  Me?"  "Is  your  question  prompted 
by  your  own  desire  to  know  whether  I  am  really  the 
King  of  the  Jews,  or  do  you  ask  it  merely  as  a  magistrate 
because  it  has  been  charged  upon  Me  that  I  make  Myself 
a  king  ?"  The  wrath  of  Pilate  flashes  out  at  the  suspicion 
that  he  felt  a  personal  interest  in  the  matter :  "  Am  I  a 
Jew?  Thine  own  nation,  and  the  chief  priests,  have  de- 
livered Thee  unto  me:  what  hast  Thou  done?"  Pilate's 
moment  of  graoe  is  passed.     Jesus  calmly,  in  words  of  sin- 


710  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

gular  majesty,  answers,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  : 
if  My  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would  My  servants 
fight,  that  I  should  not  be  delivered  to  the  Jews ;  but 
now  is  My  kingdom  not  from  hence."  This  agrees  with 
what  Pilate  has  heard  of  the  lowly  and  peaceful  bearing 
of  Jesus,  but  he  presses  the  question,  "Art  Thou  a  king, 
then  ?  "  Jesus  replies,  "  Yes,  as  thou  eayest,  I  am  a  king. 
To  this  end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the 
world,  that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.  Every 
one  that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  My  voice." 

We  picture  to  ourselves  the  governor,  gazing  with 
blended  w^onder,  awe  and  pity  on  his  prisoner.  He  seems 
to  whisper  to  himself:  "Yes,  it  is  as  I  thought;  this  Jew, 
so  unlike  any  other  I  ever  saw,  is  at  worst  but  a  visionary 
enthusiast.  Like  our  own  Stoics  He  believes  that  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  truth;  and  that  by  the  truth  one  may 
truly  reign  without  legions  or  treasures.  They  are  all 
alike  deluded.  There  is  no  truth  for  man :  iymih — truth — 
WHAT  IS  TRUTH?"  Tliis  last  he  said  aloud,  but  "stayed 
not  for  an  answer."  Going  forth  to  the  gate.  He  said  to 
the  Jews,  "I  find  i?^  Him  no  fault  at  all."  The  chief 
priests  and  elders  at  once  broke  forth  in  a  storm  of  accu- 
sations. Pilate,  seeing  that  Jesus  was  silent,  said  to  Him, 
"  Hearest  Thou  not  how  many  things  they  witness  against 
Thee?  Answerest  Thou  nothing?"  Still  Jesus  w\^s  silent. 
Again  Pilate  declared  to  the  infuriated  multitude,  "I  find 
NO  FAULT  IN  THIS  Man."  At  this  sccond  declaration  of 
our  Lord's  innocence,  they  were  more  furious  than  ever, 
crying  out,  "He  stirreth  up  the  people,  teaching  through- 
out all  Jewry,  beginning  from  Galilee  to  this  place." 
Hearing  them  mention  Galilee  Pilate  inquired  whether 
Jesus  were  a  Galilean,  and  when  told  that  He  was,  deter- 
mined to  send  Him.  immediately  to  Herod  Antipas,  who  was 
then  in  Jerusalem  attending  the  Passover.  Between  the 
tetrarch  and  himself  there  was  some  kind  of  quarrel;  and 


JESUS    BEFORE    PILATE    AND    IIEIIOD.  711 

Pilate  hoped  by  this  act  of  courtesy  to  conciliate  Herod, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  transfer  to  him,  a  Jewish  prince, 
a  responsibility  which  he  was  beginning  to  feel  painful. 

Herod,  whose  vain  and  frivolous  yet  cruel  temper  we 
have  seen  displayed  in  his  treatment  of  John  the  Baptist, 
seems  to  have  recovered,  if  indeed  he  ever  lost,  his  gay 
and  courtly  humor  since  the  murder  of  the  prophet.  He 
had  long  burned  with  curiosity  to  see  and  converse  with 
Jesus,  of  whose  miracles .  he  had  heard  such  startlino; 
reports  as  to  awaken  in  his  superstitious  mind  the  thought 
that  perhaps  He  was  the  Baptist  himself,  risen  from  the 
dead.  When  therefore  Jesus  was  brought  to  him  he  was 
overjoyed.  Not  only  was  his  pride  flattered  by  such  an 
attention  from  a  haughty  Roman  official,  but  he  hoped  to 
prevail  on  Jesus  to  do  some  miracle  in  his  presence.  He 
had  no  thought  of  trying  Him,  much  less  of  condemning 
Him  to  death ;  for  he  well  knew  that  Jesus  was  guilty  of 
no  crime  against  civil  society ;  he  only  hoped  to  amuse 
himself  for  a  passing  hour,  with  the  signs  and  wonders  of 
the  Galilean  miracle-worker.  But  he  was  disappointed. 
Though  he  asked  many  questions,  Jesus  answered  him  not 
a  word.  He  knew  that  this  perfidious,  frivolous,  blood- 
stained prince,  could  not  be  reached  by  the  voice  of  truth, 
and  as  his  fate  was  to  be  determined  at  another  tribunal, 
He  held  His  peace.  Annoyed  and  wearied  by  His  obsti- 
nate silence,  Herod  and  his  men  of  war  derided  and  mocked 
Him  for  a  time,  and  then  arraying  Him  in  a  gorgeous  robe, 
probably  the  white  robe  of  victory,  they  sent  Him  back 
to  Pilate.  It  is  emphatically  stated  by  Luke,  that  "the 
same  day  Pilate  and  Herod  were  made  friends  together." 

Pilate,  then,  can  not  shake  off  the  responsibility.  He 
therefore  calls  together  the  Sanhedrim  and  the  multitude 
with  the  purpose  of  giving  a  definite  judgment  in  the 
case.  He  seems  to  have  determined  on  a  compromise 
which  he  hoped  would  satisfy,  but  which  in  fact  displeased 


712  THE    LIFE    OF    CnPJST, 

all  parties.  It  was  the  custom  with  the  Roman  governors, 
derived  probably  from  the  Jews  themselves,  to  release  a 
prisoner  at  the  Passover, — a  custom,  perhaps,  originally 
intended  to  commemorate  the  deliverance  of  the  nation 
from  Egyptian  bondage.  Pilate  proposed  to  take  advan- 
tage of  this  custom  to  secure  the  release  of  Jesus,  not 
doubting  that  the  multitude,  whom  he  had  summoned 
with  the  priests  and  rulers,  Avould  select  Him  whom  they 
had  so  recently  hailed  with  hosannas,  in  preference  to  any 
other  prisoner.  With  this  view,  he  said  to  them :  "  Ye 
have  brought  this  Man  unto  me  as  one  that  perverteth 
the  people ;  and  behold,  I,  having  examined  Him  before 
you,  HAVE  FOUND  NO  FAULT  IN  THIS  Man,  toucliing  those 
things  whereof  ye  accuse  Him ;  no,  nor  yet  Herod ;  for  I 
sent  you  to  him ;  and  lo,  nothing  worthy  of  death  is  done 
unto  Him.  I  will  therefore  chastise  Him  and  release  Him." 
It  was  at  this  moment,  probably,  that  the  Jerusalem 
moh,  —  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  many  Galileans 
were  present — set  on  b}^  their  leaders,  began  to  clamor  for 
the  release,  according  to  custom,  of  the  Passover  prisoner. 
Pilate  then  proposed  to  them  two  prisoners,  Barabbas, 
who  had  been  the  ringleader  in  an  insurrection,  and 
was  even  stained  with  the  guilt  of  murder;  and  Jesus, 
calling  upon  them  to  choose  between  them :  "  \Vhora  will 
ye  that  I  release  unto  you,  Barabbas,  or  Jesus,  who  is 
called  Christ?"  Having  caused  his  judgment-seat  to  be 
set  up  on  the  pavement  in  front  of  the  palace,  Pilate  now 
sat  down  to  await  the  decision  of  the  people.  Mean- 
while he  received  a  startling  message  from  his  wife,  whose 
name  as  preserved  by  tradition,  was  Procla  or  Procula: 
"  Have  thou  nothing  to  do  with  that  just  Man  ;  for  I  have 
suffered  many  things  this  day  in  a  dream  because  of 
Him."  It  is  a  circumstance  in  Pilate's  favor  as  a  man, 
that  he  was  on  such  terms  with  such  a  woman  that  she 
could  venture  to  send  him  this  message  even  in  public. 


JESUS    BEFORE    PILATE    AND    IIEKOD.  713 

How  much  would  we  give  to  kuow  her  subsequent  history ! 
Like  all  truly  noble  women  of  that  and  all  other  ages, 
she  was  drawn  to  Jesus.  Did  she  sec  Him  through  a 
lattice  as  He  stood  before  the  palace  ? 

The  people  have  made  their  election.  The  priests  and 
rulers,  passing  rapidly  among  the  multitude,  persuade 
them  to  call  for  the  release  of  Barabbas,  the  revolutionist, 
the  robber,  the  murderer.  To  the  amazement  and  horror 
of  Pilate,  the  cry  suddenly  breaks  on  his  ears,  "  Not  this 
Man,  but  Barabbas  !  Not  this  Man,  but  Barabbas  !"  Pi- 
late condescends  to  expostulate  :  "Why,  what  evil  hath  He 
done  ?"  All  in  vain ;  the  cry  is  still,  "  Not  this  Man,  but 
Barabbas!"  "What  shall  I  do  then  with  Jesus  who  is 
called  Christ?"  Can  he  believe  his  ears?  The  answer 
comes  in  yells,  "  Crucify  Him !  Crucify  Him ! "  What,  will 
nothing  satisfy  them  but  the  horrible  death  of  the  cross  ? 
"  I  will  chastise  Him,"  says  the  governor,  "  and  let  Him 
go."  Again  the  yell  of  the  blood-thirsty  mob,  "  Crucify 
Him  !  Crucify  Him ! "  drowns  his  expostulations.  He  re- 
solves to  appeal  to  them  in  another  way.  Washing  his 
hands  before  them,  he  said,  "  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood 
of  this  just  person."  Then  broke  forth  the  cry,  which  has 
made  all  the  nations  shudder  ever  since:  "His  blood  be  on 
us  and  on  our  children ! "  Pilate,  hearing  this,  released  Ba- 
rabbas, and  gave  formal  sentence  that  Jesus  should  be  cruci- 
fied. Perhaps,  however,  he  still  hoped  to  save  His  life.  He 
knew  the  quick  transition  of  feeling  in  a  great  multitude, 
and  he  hoped  that,  after  a  little,  a  better  mind  would  prevail. 

It  was  the  custom  that  persons  doomed  to  the  cross 
should  first  be  scourged  ;  and  the  scourging  was  often 
so  severe,  or  rather  brutal,  that  the  victims  died  under 
it.  Jesus,  who  all  this  time  had  not  uttered  a  word,  was 
led  away  into  the  Pretorium  to  be  scourged.  The  sounds 
of  the  scourge  falling  on  that  holy  body  are  in  our  ears 
even  now.     But  what  is  this  ?     What  is  it  they  are  put- 


714  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIIUST. 

ting  on  His  head  ?  It  is  sliaped  like  a  crown,  but  as  they 
crush  it  down,  it  tears  His  brows,  and  the  blood  overflows 
His  face.  And  see !  He  is  already  arrayed  in  a  scarlet 
robe,  and  a  reed  is  forced  into  His  right  hand.  They 
bow  the  knee ;  they  cry.  Hail,  King  of  the  Jews ;  they 
smite  Him  on  the  head ;  they  spit  upon  Him,  Now, 
Pilate  thinks,  is  the  time  to  make  a  last  appeal  in  His 
behalf  Leading  Him  forth  in  His  purple  robe,  with  His 
crown  of  thorns  and  His  mock  scepter,  Pilate  says  to  them, 
"Behold,  I  bring  Him  forth  to  you,  that  ye  may  know  that 
I  FiJsD  NO  FAULT  IX  HiM."  Pointing  to  Jesus,  bound  and 
gory,  he  exclaims,  "Behold  the  Man!"  Surely,  he  thinks, 
these  cannibals  will  ask  no  more.  And  it  is  remarkable, 
that  the  multitude  no  longer  clamor  for  His  death,  but  the 
"  chief  priests  and  officers  "  cry,  "  Crucify  Him  !  Crucify 
Him!"  Pilate,  in  wrath,  says  to  them,  "Take  ye  Him  and 
crucify  Him ;  for  I  fixd  no  fault  in  Him." 

At  last  they  disclose  the  real  cause  of  their  implacable 
hatred:  "We  have  a  law,  and  by  our  law  He  ought  to 
die,  because  He  made  Himself  the  Son  of  God."  Pilate 
is  terrified  when  he  learns  that  their  demand  for  the  death 
of  Jesus  has  a  religious  motive.  He  has  had  experience 
of  their  invincible  obstinacy  in  all  cases  which  concern 
their  religion.  Leading  Jesus  back  into  the  judgment- 
hall,  he  inquires, "  Whence  art  Thou  ? "  There  is  no  answer. 
The  governor  exclaims,  "Speakest  Thou  not  unto  me? 
Knowest  Thou  not  that  I  have  power  to  crucify  Thee,  and 
have  pow'er  to  release  Thee?"  Once  more  Jesus  opens 
His  lips:  "Thou  couldest  have  no  power  at  all  against  Me, 
unless  it  were  given  thee  from  above;  therefore  he  that 
delivered  Me  unto  thee  hath  the  greater  sin."  Pilate 
is  strangely  impressed  with  the  words.  He  again  resolves 
to  save  Him.  But  the  Jews,  seeing  his  purpose,  ap- 
peal to  his  fear:  "If  thou  let  this  Man  go,  thou  art 
not  Caesar's  friend.     AYhosoever  maketh  himself  a  king 


JESUS    BEFORE    PILATE    AND    IIEKOD.  715 

speaketh  against  Ca3sar."  They  give  him  distinctly  to 
understand  that  he  must  either  crucify  Jesus  or  defend 
himself  before  the  jealous  Tiberius.  Pilate  is  conscious 
that  that  will  never  do  for  him.  Again  he  sits  down  in 
his  judgment-seat,  Jesus  standing  near  him.  "Behold 
your  King! "  he  cries.  "Away  with  Him,  away  with  Ilim, 
Crucify  Him,  Crucify  Him."  Pilate,  in  a  tone  of  mourn- 
ful yet  terrible  irony,  asks  them,  "Shall  I  crucify  your 
King  ?  "  Then,  preferring  the  gloomy,  perfidious,  infamous, 
cruel  Tiberius,  to  the  Son  of  David,  they  loudly  protest, 
"We  have  no  king  but  Cesar."  They  have  finally,  irre- 
vocably rejected  their  long-promised  Messiah;  and  now 
Pilate,  representing  then  and  there  the  Gentile  world, 
delivers  Him  up  to  be  crucified. 

A  lofty  mountain  overhangs  the  fiiir  lake  of  Luzerne, 
around  which  the  storms  almost  continually  howl  and 
moan.  There  is  a  wild  legend  which  says  that  this 
mountain,  called  Pilate,  was  the  dwelling-place,  during 
his  banishment,  long  after  our  Saviour's  death,  of  the  un- 
happy man  whose  name  it  bears ;  that  there  he  died  ;  and 
that  there  his  lost  ffhost  vents  its  undvins;  remorse  in  de- 
spairing  shrieks  and  w\ailings.  Such  is  i\\Q  impression 
which  his  unspeakable  crime  has  made  on  the  mind  of 
Christendon.  Perha^^s  however,  of  all  the  actors  in  that 
awful  tragedy,  he  was  the  least  guilty. 

This  is  a  fitting  place  to  record  the  miserable  end  of 
the  traitor  Judas.  When  he  saw  that  Jesus  was  con- 
demned to  be  crucified,  he  was  seized  with  remorse  and 
despair.  Hastening  to  the  temple,  he  confessed  to  the 
priests  and  elders  his  sin  in  betraying  the  innocent  blood, 
cast  down  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  and  went  and  hanged 
himself  The  suicide  was  accompanied  by  some  horrible 
circumstances,  which  we  refrain  from  describing.* 

*Actsi   18,  19. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE   CRUCIFIXION  AND   BUKIAL. 

PLACE  OF  OUU  lord's  CRUCIFIXION  AND  BURIAL — PREPARATIONS — THE 
PROCESSION  —  SIMON  OF  CYRENE — "DAUGHTERS  OF  JERUSALEM" — 
JESUS  CRUCIFIED — PRAYER  FOR  HIS  ENEMIES — 'THE  TWO  MALEFAC- 
TORS— THE  PENITENT  ROBBER — MATER  DOLOROSA — THE  DARKNESS  — 
JESUS  ATUIRST — GIVES  UP  THE  GHOST — PIERCING  OF  HIS  SIDE — HIS 
BURIAL. 

Matthew  xsvii.  31-GO.     Mark  xv.  20-17.    Luke  xxiii.  26-56.    Joun  sis.  16-42. 

We  do  not  here  enter  into  the  controversy  touching 
the  place  of  our  Lord's  crucifixion  and  burial.  The  ques- 
tion is  undoubtedly  an  interesting  one  to  scholars,  but  has 
the  slightest  possible  bearing  on  the  great  facts  of  our 
history.  It  is  suiiicient  to  note  that  the  present  state  of 
the  discussion  seems  to  promise,  that  the  uniform  tradi- 
tion of  the  church,,  which  locates  Calvary  and  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  within  the  present  city  walls,  will  be  sustained 
by  the  general  suffrage  of  the  learned.  It  is  well  nigh 
proved  that  these  localities  were  just  beyond  the  walls 
of  the  ancient  city,  and  but  a  short  distance  from  the 
temple-mount  and  the  palace  of  Pilate.  It  is  probable ' 
that  the  present  Via  Dolorosa,  running  westward  from 
Moriah,  is  really  the  sorrowful  way  by  which  our  Lord 
was  led  forth  to  be  crucified.  He  must  needs  be  put 
to  death  without  the  gates.  This  was  required  by  the 
Roman  custom  as  well  as  by  Jewish  law.  The  execu- 
tion was  entrusted  by  Pilate  to  a  band  of  soldiers,  com- 
manded by  a  centurion.     The  preparations  were  speedily 


THE    CIIUCIFIXION.  717 

completed.  The  cross,  constructed  of  transverse  beams, 
thus,  "|-  was  soon  in  readiness.  A  white  tablet  with  an 
inscrfption  or  title,  in  Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin  was  pre- 
pared to  be  borne  either  before  the  Saviour,  or  suspended 
from  His  neck.  This  title,  overlooked  by  the  Jews  till  it 
was  fastened  on  the  cross,  was  framed  by  Pilate  in  a  spirit 
of  scornful  revenge  and  mockerj-,  not  towards  Jesus  but 
the  nation,  and  especially  the  Sanhedrim,  by  whom  He 
had  been  compelled  to  give  judgment  contrary  to  his 
own  clear  and  oft-expressed  convictions.  The  title — va- 
ried doubtless  in  the  several  languages  in  which  it  was 
written,  ran  thus: — ^' This  is  Jesus  of  Nazaketu  the 
KiisTG  OF  the  Jews." 

All  things  being  ready,  the  soldiers  laid  the  cross  on 
Jesus,  already  weak  with  scourging  and  fasting,  and  ex- 
hausted by  His  solitary  agony  in  the  garden;  But  Ho 
bowed  His  shoulder  to  the  burden,  and  the  mournful  pro- 
cession moved  forward.  A  probable  tradition  marks  the 
spot  near  the  gate  of  the  city  where  He  sank  under  the 
load.  It  happened  just  then  that  a  certain  Simon  of 
Cyrene,  in  Africa,  approached  the  place,  and  he  was  im- 
pressed by  the  soldiers — their  centurion,  perhaps,  already 
touched  with  compassion  towards  his  prisoner — and  made 
to  bear  the  cross  after  Jesus.  Simon  was  most  blessed  in 
this  cross-bearing.  He  probably  became  a  disciple  from 
that  day,  and  his  two  sons,  Alexander  and  Rufus,  were 
well  known  and  honored  by  the  apostolic  church.  It 
may  even  be  true  that  he  was  the  Simeon  Niger,  men- 
tioned in  Acts  xiii.  1,  as  among  the  leading  ministers  of 
the  church  in  Antioch.*"  However  this  may  be,  he  had 
the  sole  honor  of  bearing  our  Lord's  cross  to  the  place  of 
His  crucifixion. 

We   think  of  Jesus  at  this   time  as  surrounded  with 


*  See  Melville's  Sermon  on  Simon  tbe  Cyrcnian. 


718  THE    LIFE    OF    CHKIST. 

hooting,  blaspheming  enemies;  and  doubtless  His  weary 
march  to  Calvary  was  one  protracted  scene  of  insult  and 
outrage ;  but  there  was,  notwithstanding,  a  great  multi- 
tude, especially  of  women, — mostly,  too,  it  would  seem, 
women  of  Jerusalem — who  bewailed  and  lamented  Him. 
Jesus,  forgetful  of  His  own  sufferings,  and  keenly  alive  to 
every  demonstration  of  loving  sympathy,  turned  to  them 
and  said,  "  Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  weep  not  for  Me,  but 
weep  for  yourselves  and  for  your  children.  For,  behold, 
the  days  are  coming,  in  the  which  they  shall  say.  Blessed 
are  the  barren,  and  the  wombs  that  never  bare,  and  the 
paps  which  never  gnve  suck.  Then  shall  they  begin  to 
say  to  the  mountains.  Fall  on  us ;  and  to  the  hills,  Cover 
us.  For  if  they  do  these  things  in  a  green  tree,  what 
shall  be  done  in  the  dry  ? " 

Having  reached  an  open  place — probably  a  low,  rounded 
eminence  resembling  a  human  skull,  the  soldiers  offered 
Him  a  cup  of  sour  wiixe  mingled  with  bitter,  stupefj'ing 
drugs.  In  His  thirst  He  took  th^  cup ;  but  having  tasted 
it  and  perceiving  its  intoxicating  properties,  He  rejected 
it.  Xot  thus  would  He  fortify  His  failing  humanity  against 
the  agonies  of  the  cross.  Without  delay  the  fearful  work 
proceeded.  The  cross  having  been  fixed  in  the  earth,  the 
soldiers  stripped  Jesus  of  His  garments,  and  raising  Him 
np  to  the  cross,  bound  His  arms  and  His  feet  to  the  wood. 
Then  followed  the  crowning  horror,  the  driving  of  the 
long,  sharp  nails  through  those  hands  which  had  only 
been  employed  to  bless  mankind,  and  through  those  feet 
which  had  trod  the  earth  only  on  ministries  of  mercy. 
No  shriek  of  pain  escapes  His  lips;  but  as  the  nails  go 
crashing  through  bones  and  flesh,  nerves  and  tendons.  He 
prays,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do."  Tlie  deed  is  done  ;  the  Son  of  God.  the  Lord 
of  glory,  Immanuel,  is  crucified. 


THE    CRUCIFIXION.  719 

Two  notorious  thieves,  or  rather  rohbers,  are  crucified 
at  the  same  time,  one  on  His  right  hand  and  the  other  on 
His  left.  We  conjecture  that  they  had  been  connected 
with  Barabbas  in  his  insurrection,  and  that  Pihite  ordered 
them  to  the  cross  to  spite  the  Jews.  His  wrathful  mood 
was  clearly  disclosed  in  the  superscription  which  was  now 
fastened  over  the  head  of  Jesus.  Up  to  this  moment, 
probably  it  had  not  been  noticed  by  the  Jews;  ]jut  when 
they  read  it  they  ran  into  the  city  to  inform  the  chief 
priests,  who  perhaps  went  forth  to  ve^-ify  the  report. 
Full  of  indignation,  they  hastened  to  Pihite,  and  requested 
him  to  change  the  title  so  that  it  should  read,  '•  He  said  I 
am  the  King  of  the  Jews."  Pilate,  with  true  Roman 
haughtiness,  replied,  "  What  I  have  written,  I  have  writ- 
ten." He  had  deliberately  put  a  terrible  meaning  into 
the  superscription :  "  Thus  ends  Jewish  nationality." 
There  was  a  deep  prophecy  in  the  words,  which  he  did  not 
understand.  Meanwhile,  the  soldiers  divided  among  them- 
selves the  garments  of  Jesus,  disposing  of  His  seamless 
coat,  or  inner  garment,  by  lot.  "  And  they  watched  Him 
there." 

Those  who  have  courage  to  look  may  gaze  on  the  Son 
of  man  in  His  mortal  pain.  That  He  should  suffer  in 
majestic  patience  and  silence,  does  not  surprise  us ;  but 
that  any  in  that  crowd  should  deride  His  agonies  strikes 
us  as  too  horrible  for  belief  But  see !  His  enemies  pass 
to  and  fro  before  His  face,  wagging  their  heads,  and 
shouting  in  mockery,  "Ah,  Thou  that  destroyest  the 
temple  and  bulkiest  it  in  three  days,  save  Thyself  If 
Thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  come  down  from  the  cross!" 
This  is  the  catch-word  of  the  brutal  mob.  The  priests 
and  scribes — for  they  too  are  there — are  more  refined 
and  ingenious  in  their  taunts:  "He  saved  others;  Him- 
self He  can  not  save.  Let  Christ  the  King  of  Israel 
descend  from  the  cross,  that  we  may  see  and  believe." 


720  THE    LIFE    OF    CHPJST. 

The  soldiers  catch  the  feeling  of  the  mob,  and  run  to 
offer  Him  vinegar,  saying, — half  in  derision  of  the  Jews 
themselves, — ''If  Thou  be  the  King  of  the  Jews,  save 
Thyself" 

More  horrible  still:  the  two  malefactors  who  w^ere 
crucified  with  Him,  also  reviled  Him.  This  seems  to 
us,  at  first  thought,  strange  and  monstrous, — almost  in- 
credible. A  moment's  reflection,  however,  will  convince 
us  that  it  was  in  keeping  with  human  nature.  These 
men  were  robbers.  It  is  a  reasonable  conjecture  that 
they  belonged  to  the  class  which  afterwards  became 
very  numerous,  called  zealots,  who  committed  the  most 
aggravated  crimes  under  the  color  of  patriotism  and  re- 
ligion. They  w^ere  not  often  brought  to  justice  ;  for  they 
were  popular  rather  than  otherwise  with  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple ;  and  they  found  it  easy,  in  most  cases,  to  bribe  the 
Roman  officials,  by  sharing  with  them  the  spoils  of  help- 
less travelers  and  defenceless  villages.  When  they  were 
seized  and  thrown  into  prison,  they  jDrobably  did  not  np- 
prehend  any  very  severe  jDunishment,  still  less  the  dread- 
ful death  of  the  cross.  When  Barabbas  was  released 
they  must  have  regarded  it  as  a  pledge  of  their  own 
speedy  liberation.  What,  then,  must  have  been  their 
despair  and  fury,  when  they  were  suddenly  dragged  forth 
to  be  crucified  with  Jesus  the  Nazarene,  as  if  they  had 
belonged  to  His  party !  But  for  Him,  they  think,  they 
would  have  escaped.  And  it  is  probable  that  Pilate  would 
not  have  ordered  their  crucifixion,  had  he  not  been  en- 
raged by  his  humiliating  failure  to  save  the  life  of  Jesus. 
Under  these  circumstances,  it  was  but  natural  that  these 
miserable  men,  terrified  and  distracted,  should  have  turned 
with  fury  upon  Jesus  Himself,  as  the  cause  of  the  tor- 
ments which  they  suffered.  They  were  not,  however, 
both  equally  hardened.  Both  indeed,  at  first,  "rcyzVe^" 
Him;  but  only  one  of  them  ^^ railed  on  Hun,''  or,  as  it  is 


THE  cnuciFixioN.  721 

in  the  Greok,  ""  blasj^hemed  Ilim."*'  We  infer  from  this, 
that  after  the  taunts  which  they  had  both  east  in  I  lis 
teeth,  one  of  thein  became  silent,  while  the  other  grew 
more  outrageous  and  malignant.  The  latter,  not  taught 
and  softened  by  suffering,  but  infuriated  and  hardened, 
railed  on  with  growing  bitterness  and  hate ;  but  the 
former,  touched  by  the  majestic  patience  and  forgiving 
love  of  Jesus,  and  awed  by  the  near  approach  of  death, 
soon  began  to  manifest  a  wonderful  but  by  no  means  in- 
credible change  of  feeling.  The  blasphemies  of  his  fel- 
low in  crime  and  punishment,  at  length,  strike  him  as 
shocking,  unjust  and  cruel.  Looking  over  the  multitude, 
surging  and  foaming  like  an  angry  sea  round  the  cross, 
dashing  the  foul,  hellish  spray  of  their  reproaches  and 
mockeries  over  the  meek  and  silent  Sufferer  at  his  side, 
the  now  broken-hearted  robber  glances  at  his  former  com- 
panion, saying,  "Neither  dost  thou  fear  God,  seeing  thou 
art  in  the  same  condemnation?!  And  we  indeed  justly ; 
for  we  receive  the  due  reward  of  our  deeds ;  but  this 
Man  hath  done  nothing  amiss." 

He  speaks  like  one  who  had  known  something  of  Jesus 
before.  He  had  probably  mingled  freely  with  the  people, 
and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  he  had  heard  many  reports  of 
our  Lord's  teachings  and  miracles  ;  nay,  it  is  possible  that 
he  had  himself  seen  Him,  and  knew  well  that  He  called 
Himself  and  was  called  by  His  disciples,  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God.  At  this  moment,  all  that  he  had 
ever  known  of  Jesus  is  brought  to  his  remembrance  ;  and 
His  godlike  patience  and  meekness  convince  him  that 
He  is  indeed  the  Divine  King  of  Israel.  He  asserts  His 
sinlessness,  and  confesses  his  own  exceeding  guilt,  nay, 


*  Compare  Mark  xv.  32  and  Luke  xxiii.  39. 

t  Trench  has  bit  the  exact  sense  of  this  passage  :   "  Studies  in  the  Gospels," 
page  291. 

4G 


722  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

more  j  he  turns  his  eyes  to  Jesus,  and  prays,  •'  Loi-d,  re- 
member me  when  Thou  comest  m  Thy  kingdom!'*  "I 
beheve,  0  Thou  meek  Nazarene,  though  Thou  art  rejected, 
insulted,  tortured  by  Jew  and  Gentile,  that  Thou  art  the 
Christ  of  God,  and  that  Thou  wilt  hereafter  reign  in  glory. 
In  the  day  of  Thy  certain  triumph,  wilt  Thou,  0  Lord, 
remember  the  poor,  guilty,  dying  robber?"  Jesus,  who 
had  not  spoken  a  word  in  answer  to  the  taunts  of  His 
enemies,  now  opens  His  ever  gracious  lips :  "  Verily,  I 
say  unto  thee,  to-day  shalt  thou  be  with  Me  in  Paradise." 
"  Remember  thee,  poor  penitent  ?  Yes ;  thy  sins  are  al- 
ready pardoned ;  and  ere  yonder  sun  shall  set,  thou  shalt 
be  with  Me,  far  from  this  scene  of  suffering,  among  patri- 
archs and  prophets,  saints  and  martyrs,  in  their  place  of 
serene  and  holy  repose."  The  agonies  of  the  cross  are 
no  longer  unendurable ;  he  is  assured  of  rest  so  soon ! 
The  brutality  of  Pilate  is  a  precious  boon  to  the  dying 
malefactor ;  he  has  lost  his  life — and  found  it. 

Some  of  the  disciples  who  had  stood  afar  off,  had  by 
this  time  gathered  close  to  the  cross.  Among  them  were 
the  Marys,  John  the  beloved,  and  the  mother  of  the  Lord. 
Yes,  she  also,  her  soul  at  length  transfixed  with  the 
sword,  the  blessed  Mary,  is  standing  near  the  cross.  She 
can  not  wipe  the  blood  and  sweat  from  His  pale  face ; 
she  can  not  even  embrace  His  nailed  feet.  She  can  but 
gaze  on  her  dying  Son  in  speechless  sorrow.  His  eyes 
are  upon  her ;  He  glances  from  her  to  John,  saying, 
"  Woman,  behold  thy  Son  ! "  With  unutterable  meaning 
in  His  eyes,  He  says  to  the  disciple  who  a  few  hours  ago 
lay  in  His  bosom,  "Behold  thy  mother!"  It  was  scarcely 
necessary  for  John  to  tell  us,  that  from  that  hour  he  took 
her  unto  his  own  home. 

Jesus  is  now  silent.  His  enemies  seem  to  have  grown 
weary,  and  their  fiendish  yells  no  longer  rend  the  air.  A 
silent,  infinite  dread  is  falling  on  the  multitude.     Though 


i 


THE    CRUCIFIXION.  723 

it  is  about  noon,  a  strange  darkness,  every  moment  grow- 
ing deeper  and  thicker,  is  creeping  through  the  sky  and 
enshrouding  the  earth.  It  is  not  hke  night;  it  is  not  a  total 
echpse  of  the  sun ;  it  is  a  preternatural  gloom, — a  black, 
ghastly  shadow,  whence  no  man  knows,  overspreading  the 
land.  During  three  long  hours,  the  darkness  veils  from 
human  gaze  the  mortal  agonies  of  the  Lamb  of  God. 

But  He  is  suspended  there  to  suffer  that  awful  thing, 
so  foreign  to  His  nature,  so  loathsome,  so  terrible  till  He, 
by  suffering,  abolished  it, — Death.  It  w^as  a  battle,  not 
so  much  with  the  physical  pain  of  dying,  as  with  him  that 
had  the  power  of  death ;  that  is,  the  devil.  The  powers 
of  darkness  were  let  loose  upon  His  soul.  As  His  life 
ebbed  away,  as  the  deadly  pain  and  weakness  crept  nearer 
the  seat  of  vitality,  as  His  human  consciousness  began  to 
be  clouded  and  shaken,  especially,  as  His  infinite  sympa- 
thy with  mankind  embraced  and  appropriated  their  whole 
guilt  and  condemnation,  we  may  reverently  suggest  that 
Satan  attempted  to  inject  a  doubt  of  His  Divine  Sonship, 
of  His  Father's  love.  At  the  shock  of  this  great  tempta- 
tion in  the  moment  when  the  unutterable  pang  of  disso- 
lution came  upon  Him,  He  roused  Himself  to  assert  with 
transcendent  energy,  that  even  in  dying  His  relations 
with  the  Father  continued  unchanged.  He  cried  with  a 
loud  voice  :  "  Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani ! " — "  My  God,  My 
God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me!" — Forsaken  He  was; 
that  is,  given  over  to  the  suffering  of  death  ;  but  He  knew 
that  God  was  His  God,  and  could  never  absolutely  forsake 
Him.  Some  of  the  by-standers,  not  understanding  the 
dialect  in  which  He  spoke,  thought  He  called  for  Elijah, 
whose  coming  was  vaguely  expected  at  that  time  ;  and 
they  seem  to  have  really  thought  it  possible  that  the 
translated  propliet  might  appear  then  and  there.  Again 
Jesus  cried, "  I  thirst !"  One  filled  a  sponge  with  vinegar, 
put  it  on  a  reed,  and  held  it  to  His  lips,  saying :  ''  Let 


724  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

alone ;  let  us  see  whether  Elias  will  cotne  to  take  Illm 
clown."  It  was  probably  about  this  time  that  the  darkness 
broke  away.  Jesus  cried  again  with  a  loud  voice,  '•'  It  is 
finished;  Father,  into  Thy  hands  I  commend  My  Spirit!" 
Then,  bowing  Ilis  head.  He  gave  up  the  ghost. 

****** 

At  the  moment  of  our  Lord's  death,  there  was  a  great 
earthquake.  The  rocks  were  rent.  The  veil  of  the  most 
holy  place  was  rent  from  the  top  to  the  bottom.  So 
grand  and  fearful  were  the  phenomena  which  accompa- 
nied the  death  of  Jesus,  that  the  centurion  who  had  super- 
intended the  crucifixion,  exclaimed :  "  Certainly  this  was 
a  righteous  man  !  This  was  truly  the  Son  of  God."  There 
was  terror,  lamentation  and  wailing  among  the  multitude. 
Smiting  upon  their  breasts,  they  hastened  to  their  own 
homes.  His  Galilean  followers  and  friends,  how^ever,  in- 
cluding: the  noble  women  who  had  ministered  to  Him, 
stood,  as  if  chained  to  the  place,  not  near  the  cross,  but 
where  they  could  plainly  see  all  that  transpired.  They 
had  not  been  able  to  minister  to  Him  in  the  mortal  agony; 
and  now  they  longed  in  vain  to  wash,  anoint  and  enshroud 
the  holy  body,  hanging  lifeless  on  the  cross.  They  could 
not  even  approach  and  kiss  the  cold  feet  nailed  to  the 
cruel  wood,  for  the  grim  Roman  soldiers  kept  guard 
around  it. 

The  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,  having  jorobably  taken 
the  sorrowing  mother  to  his  own  lodgings  in  the  city,  was 
there  standing  nearer  the  cross.  He  had  gazed  on  his 
adored  Master  till  the  bosom  on  which  he  had  so  often 
leaned  ceased  to  heave,  till  the  eyes  that  had  so  often 
beamed  love  and  peace  upon  him  became  fixed  and  raj'- 
less.  And  still  he  kept  sad  vigil  on  Golgotha,  as  hour 
after  hour  wore  away ;  and  he  doubtless  longed  to  take 
down  the  blessed  corpse  for  sepulture ;  but  he  had  no 
order  from  the  governor,  and  no  influence  to  obtain  one ; 


THE    CRUCIFIXION-.  725 

SO  he  could  only  watch  to  see  where  they  would  lay  Ilim. 
As  the  evening  draws  near  he  sees  a  company  of  soldiers 
approach  the  place  ;  and  he  knows  by  their  clubs  that 
they  have  come  to  extinguish  any  faint  remains  of 
life  in  the  three  crucified  men,  by  breaking  their  legs. 
They  do  break  the  legs  of  the  two  malefactors ;  but  when 
they  come  to  the  body  of  Jesus  they  find  Him  already 
quite  dead  ;  still,  to  make  sure,  and  that  we  might  believe, 
one  of  them  pierces  His  side  with  a  spear,  and  forthwith 
there  gushes  forth  a  stream  of  blood  and  water.  He  is 
indeed  dead.  Be  comforted,  ye  mourners.!  The  cruel 
clubs  shall  not  break  a  bone  of  that  sacred  body :  no 
further  insult  or  harm  shall  come  to  it,  henceforth,  for- 
ever. It  is  the  temple  of  God,  and  shall  speedilj^  be  raised 
in  glory.  Meanwhile,  it  shall  tenderly  be  taken  down 
from  the  cross ;  it  shall  have  a  precious  burial. 

Joseph  of  Arimathea,  a  rich  man  and  a  counselor,  had 
long  been  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  though  secretly,  for  fear  of 
the  Jews.  During  the  last  few  hours,  however,  his  timid- 
ity had  all  disappeared.  As  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim, 
he  had  not  consented  to  the  sentence  of  his  colleagues ; 
and  now  that  the  holy  Sufferer  was  dead  he  was  not 
ashamed  to  testify  his  faith  and  love.  He  went  boldly 
to  Pilate  and  begged  the  body  of  Jesus.  Having  ascer- 
tained that  Jesus  ^vas  already  dead,  Pilate  gave  the  de- 
sired order.  The  Jews  would  gladly  have  seen  Him 
buried  with  the  malefactors  in  some  obscure  and  ac- 
cursed cemetery ;  but  their  malice  was  thwarted  ;  "  He 
shall  make  His  grave  with  the  rich  in  His  death."  Be- 
hold Joseph,  hastening  to  Golgotha.  Reverently,  mourn- 
fully, the  nails  are  drawn,  and  the  body  is  taken  down  from 
the  cross.  As  they  are  preparing  it  for  burial  they  are 
joined  by  Nicodemus,  bringing  a  hundred  pounds  of  pre- 
cious spices,  to  cover  the  holy  corpse.  They  wrap  it  in 
linen  clean  and  white,  and  then  bear  it  to  Joseph's  garden 


726  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

which  is  just  at  hand.  There  he  had  hewn  for  himself  a 
stately  tomb  out  of  the  living  rock.  In  that  tomb,  the 
body  of  the  Lord  is  carefully  laid.  They  roll  a  great 
stone  to  the  door  of  the  sepulchre ;  and  the  burial  is 
ended.  The  women  of  Galilee,  including  Mary  Magda- 
lene, and  the  other  Mary,  have  followed  that  they  may 
see  where  their  Master  is  buried.  Weeping  there  awhile, 
they  are  admonished  by  the  setting  sun  that  the  Sabbath 
is  commencing,  and  they  depart  to  their  lodgings. 

Let  us  draw  near  to  this  silent,  deserted  sepulchre. 
What  a  sleeper  lies  within !  Thank  God,  He  sleeps  now, 
full  of  rest.  After  the  toils,  humiliations,  and  sufferings 
of  thirty-three  years — after  the  cup  of  death  in  Geth- 
semane — after  the  false  trial,  the  jeers,  the  buffets,  the 
unutterable  insults  of  the  council-chamber — after  the 
mock  coronation,  the  gorgeous  robe,  the  scourging,  the 
cross-bearing,  the  sharp  and  unknown  agonies  of  crucifix- 
ion, after  the  great  pang  of  dying — all  that  was  mortal  of 
Jesus  SLEEPS  IN  HOLY  PEACE.  The  baptism  of  blood  is 
accomplished.  The  sacrifice  is  finished.  The  ransom  is 
paid.  The  sin  of  the  world  is  taken  away.  Hence,  all 
ye  profane  and  unbelieving  !  This  is  no  place  for  cavilers, 
or  even  doubters ;  but  draw  near,  all  ye  whose  hearts 
are  burdened  with  guilt,  and  wrung  with  penitence :  as- 
sure yourselves  here  of  a  finished  atonement. 

All  is  finished !  His  mangled  body,  lying  here  em- 
balmed in  spices,  is  secure  against  corruption.  His  soul  is 
in  hades,  doing  for  His  church,  perhaps,  some  mighty  and 
glorious  work — what,  it  belongs  to  the  theologian  rather 
than  to  this  history  to  set  forth.* 

*  See  Acts  ii.  26-28.     I.  Peter  iii.  18,  19. 


PART    X. 


Our  Risen   Lord. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  RESURRECTION  OF   CHRIST. 

•SHE  REALITY  OF  CHRIST's  DEATH — JESUS  IN  THE  SEPULCHRE — IN  HADES — 
THE  RESURRECTION — THE  WOMEN  AT  THE  SEPULCHRE  —  MARY  MAG- 
DALENE— THE  WALK  TO  EMMAUS — JESUS  APPEARS  AND  VANISHES  — 
APPEARS    TO    PETER — TO    THE    ELEVEN. 

Matthew  xxvii.  62-66;  xxviii.  1-15     Mauk  xvi.  1-18.    Luke  xxiv.  1-49.    John  xx.  1-25. 

I.  CORINTHUNS  XV.  5. 

The  Jews  had  somehow  come  to  the  knowleclfje  of  our 
Lord's  promise,  that  He  would  rise  from  the  dead  the  third 
day ;  and  they  seern  to  have  had  a  glimmering  perception 
of  the  meaning  of  His  words,  "  Destroy  this  temple,  and 
in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up."  Knowing  that  if  the 
body  were  missing  the  belief  would  prevail  that  Jesus 
was  really  risen,  they  felt  the  importance  of  keeping 
watch  over  the  sepulchre  till  the  expiration  of  the  third 
day.  They  therefore  applied  to  Pilate  for  a  watch,  and  he 
readily  but  rather  contemptuously  granted  their  request. 
Having  placed  the  sentinels  at  the  door  of  the  sepulchre, 
they  carefully  sealed  the  stone.  All  this  was  done  by 
these  men  who  had  persecuted  Jesus  for  Sabbath-break- 
ing, on  the  great  Passover  Sabbath. 

The  day, — saddest  since  time  began, — drags  wearily 
on.  The  soldiers  watch  around  the  sepulchre,  but  there 
is  neither  voice  nor  sound  from  within.  The  holy  body 
sleeps  in  silence  and  darkness.  It  is  still  the  temple  of 
the  Holv  Ghost.    The  forces  of  corruption  have  no  power 


730  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

over  it.  If  any  change  is  going  on,  it  is  a  supernatural 
one  to  prepare  it  for  the  new  life  which  it  is  about  to  re- 
ceive. Such  a  change  probably  commenced  at  the  mo- 
ment of  death ;  for  the  gushing  forth  of  blood  and  water 
from  His  pierced  side  was  a  proof,  not  only  that  He  was 
really  dead,  but  that  His  dead  body  was  miraculously 
preserved  from  the  beginnings  of  corruption.  There  w\as 
no  decomposition  even  of  the  fluids  which  had  belonged 
to  His  living  organism.  We  can  not  doubt  that  the  mi- 
raculous energy  which  prevented  decomposition  wrought 
a  secret  alteration  in  the  corporeal  frame  which  fitted  it 
for  the  higher  life  of  the  resurrection.* 

We  must  observe  in  passing,  that  the  stream  of  blood 
and  water  was  doubtless  symbolical  also.  In  the  pouring 
forth  of  His  precious  blood  was  signified  the  utter  oblation 
of  the  former  natural  life ;  "  for  the  life  is  in  the  blood,"  f 
and  the  efiiision  of  water  signified  the  purifying  efficacy 
of  that  oblation.     The  water  and  the  blood  still  testify 

*  The  interesting  and  important  questions  connected  with  the  stream  of 
blood  and  water  which  followed  the  spear-thrust,  are  foreign  to  the  design  of 
this  book.  The  view  suggested  in  the  text  is  eclectic,  combining  the  opinion 
of  those  who  hold  that  the  spear  penetrated  the  pericardium,  if  not  the  heart 
itself,  and  that  of  others  who,  asserting  that  blood  will  not  flow  from  a  body 
that  is  really  dead,  regard  the  phenomenon  as  wholly  miraculous.  It  has  not, 
to  my  knowledge,  been  suggested  as  possible  that  all  the  fluids  of  the  Lord's 
body  were  poured  out  through  the  wound  in  His  side.  Blood  did  not  enter 
into  the  constitution  of  the  resurrection  body.  The  old  life — which  was  in 
the  blood — was  wholly  offered  up  on  the  cross.  I  assert  nothing ;  but  sug- 
gest the  question  as  legitimate  and  important. 

"When  I  say  that  the  Lord's  body  was  miraculously  preserved  from  corrup- 
tion, I  would  be  understood  to  protest,  most  solemnly  against  the  docetic 
notion,  recently  revived,  that  His  body  was,  in  its  own  nature  immortal,  and 
that  His  death  resulted  from  a  supernatural  energy  of  volition.  This  under- 
mines the  whole  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation.  If  Jesus  did  not  take  a  mortal 
and  corruptible  body,  He  did  not  truly  assume  our  nature,  and  had  no  fra- 
ternal sympathy  with  us.     Has  the  age  of  gnosticism  returned  ? 

t  Leviticus  xvii.  11. 


THE    RESURRECTION'.  731 

on  eartli,  in  the  blessed  sacraments,  to  the  reality  of  our 
Lord's  incarnation,  and  the  redeeming  might  of  His  rec- 
onciliation-death.* 

Thus,  then,  the  body  of  Jesus  reposes  in  the  sepulchre. 
Meanwhile  His  spirit  in  hades  is  quickened  with  the  new, 
imperishable  life,  which,  on  its  return,  is  to  animate,  trans- 
form and  glorify  the  material  frame.f 

The  disciples  are  weeping ;  the  women  are  preparing 
precious  ointment  and  spices  for  the  more  solemn  anoint- 
ing of  the  blessed  body;  the  Sabbath  sun  goes  down; 
ihe  sentinels,  hour  after  hour,  still  pace  slowly  round  the 
sepulchre.  Midnight  comes  and  goes;  the  great  city  is 
asleep.  Under  the  solemn,  vaulted  firmament  the  whole 
earth  seems  one  still  and  holy  sepulchre  for  the  Lord  of 
glory.  Suddenly  the  earth  heaves  and  rocks ;  swift  as 
a  shooting  star  a  glorious  angelic  form  descends  from 
heaven,  rolls  awa}''  the  stone  and  sits  upon  it.  "  His 
countenance  is  like  lightning,  and  his  raiment  white  as 
snow."  The  sentinels  quake  with  terror,  and  fall  to  the 
earth  as  dead  men. 

God's  mightiest  works  are  wrought  in  secret.  The 
resurrection  of  the  Lord  was  not  witnessed  by  mortal 
eyes.  Had  the  story  been  a  cunningly  devised  fable, 
all  the  details  of  the  pretended  miracle  would  have  been 
recorded.  But  this  was  an  event  which  the  most  ad- 
vanced and  enlightened  disciples  could  not  have  Avit- 
nessed,  without  danger  to  their  reason,  perhaps  to  life 
itself  For  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  was  not  like  that 
of  Lazarus,  a  return  to  the  natural,  earthly  life ;  but  a 
change  from  mortal  to  immortality.  While  our  Lord's 
body  was  really  raised  from  the  tomb,  it  is  evident  that 
its  constitution  was  mysteriously  changed.  It  became 
spiritual,  life-full,  incorruptible,  glorious,  heavenly.      He 

*  I.  John  V.  6,  8  1 1.  Peter  iii.  18. 


732  THE    LIFE    OF    CimiST. 

entered  on  a  new  mode  of  existence,  above  the  condi- 
tions of  earthly  hfe.  Henceforth,  He  appears  and  disap- 
pears at  will,  and  goes  from  place  to  place  by  some 
mode  of  locomotion  unknown  to  us.  It  is  even  doubt- 
ful whether  the  term  locomotion  is  applicable  to  His  acts 
and  appearances  in  the  resurrection-state.  If,  in  the 
progress  of  science,  the  relations  of  spirit  to  matter,  and 
the  ultimate  nature  or  essence  of  both  should  be  ascer- 
tained, much  of  the  rnystery  which  now  envelops  the 
subject  will  be  dispelled.  Meanwhile  it  is  matter  of  sim- 
ple faith  that  our  Lord,  in  rising  from  the  dead,  was  glo- 
rified by  the  transforming  —  perhaps  I  should  say  trans- 
muting— energy  of  the  new  life  which  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  His  humanity.  Henceforth,  He  is  the  Risen  Max, 
the  Living  One,  the  Conqueeer  of  Death  and  Hades, 

the  IMMORTAL  AND  LIFE-GIVING   SECOND  AdAM,  THE  LoRD 

FROM  Heaven. 

The  incidents  which  took  place  on  this  memorable  day, 
maj'  be  gathered  up  from  the  four  evangelists  and  woven 
into  a  consistent  narrative,  as  follows  : — In  the  early  morn- 
ing of  the  first  day  of  the  week,  while  it  was  yet  dark, 
Mary  Magdalene,  Mary  the  mother  of  James,  Salome,  Jo- 
anna, and  other  women,  went  to  the  sepulchre  wnth  the 
spices  which  they  had  prepared.  On  their  way  it  occurred 
to  them  that  there  was  none  to  roll  away  the  great  stone 
from  the  door  of  the  sepulchre  ;  but,  impelled  by  love  and 
sorrow,  they  hastened  onward.  When  they  reached  the 
plnce  the  east  was  all  aglow  with  "  the  awfid  rose  of 
dawn;"  but  they  had  no  eyes  for  the  auroral  splendor. 
Their  hearts  were  in  the  sepulchre  of  the  Lord,  and 
thither  they  turned  their  gaze.  What  was  their  conster- 
nation to  find  the  stone  rolled  away !  There  was  one  in 
tli.'if  company  who  loved  much,  for  she  had  been  forgiven 
much.  This  was  Mary  Magflnlcne,  who,  if  she  was  not 
that  "woman  of  the  city"  who  washed  the  feet  of  Jesus 


TUE    UESUKKECTION.  /  o-'j 

with  her  tears  and  wiped  them  with  her  hair,  had  hecii 
rescued  by  Him  I'rom  a  fearful  boiuhige  to  the  powers  of 
darkness;  for  out  of  her  lie  had  east  seven  demons. 
When  she  saw  that  the  stone  was  rohed  away,  lier  lieart 
sank  within  her;  she  felt  that  the  beloved  body  was 
gone — stolen,  she  feared,  by  the  enemies  of  her  F.oid. 
Not  pausing  to  examine  the  sepulchre,  she  ran  to  Peter 
and  John  in  the  city,  who  seem  to  have  occupied  the 
same  lodgings,  and  said  to  them,  "  They  have  taken  away 
the  Lord  out  of  the  sepulchre,  and  we  know  not  where 
they  have  laid  Him."  Tlie  apostles,  thunder-struck,  at 
once  ran  towards  the  sepulchre. 

Meanwhile  the  other  women  entered  the  sepulchre, 
where  they  saw  two  angels  in  human  form,  clad  in  white 
and  glistering  garments.  Amazed  and  terrified,  they 
bowed  themselves  to  the  earth ;  but  they  were  reassured 
by  the  words,  "  Fear  not  ye ;  for  I  know  that  ye  seek 
Jesus  who  was  crucified.  He  is  not  here  :  for  He  is  risen, 
as  He  said.  Come  see  the  place  where  the  Lord  lay. 
And  go  quickly  and  tell  His  disciples  that  He  is  risen 
from  the  dead,  and  behold,  He  goeth  before  you  into 
Galilee ;  there  shall  ye  see  Him :  lo,  I  have  told  }ou."' 
Instantly  leaving  the  sepulchre,  agitated  with  fear  rather 
than  with  hope,  they  hastened  with  their  message  to  the 
disciples.  While  they  were  on  their  way,  Jesus  Himself 
met  them,  saying,  "All  hail!"  These  were  His  first 
words  after  His  resurrection — words  of  love  and  victo- 
rious joy.  They  reverently  approached  Him ;  they  held 
Him  by  the  feet;  they  vv^orshiped  Him.  "Then  said 
Jesus  unto  them.  Be  not  afraid  ;  go  tell  My  brethren,  that 
they  go  into  Galilee,  and  there  shall  they  see  Me."  The 
message  was  faithfully  communicated  to  the  disciples  ;  but 
they  had  not  faith  to  act  upon  it.  The  words  of  the  wo- 
men seemed  to  them  like  idle  tales. 

Scarcely  had   the  women  departed  from  the  sepulchre, 


734  THE    LIFE    OF    CIIIilST. 

when  Jolin,  breathless  and  wondering,  reached  the  spot. 
He  has  a  secret  hope  which  he  hardly  acknowledges 
to  hhnself.  Withheld  by  reverence,  he  does  not  at  once 
enter  the  sepulchre ;  but  stooping  down  and  looking  in, 
sees  the  linen  grave-clothes  lying,  but  that  is  all.  At 
this  moment  Peter  arrives,  and  without  hesitation-  goes 
into  the  sepulchre,  and  John  follows  him.  The  sejjulchre 
is  indeed  empty.  The  linen  clothes  are  lying  in  one 
place,  and  the  napkin  which  was  about  His  head,  carefully 
folded,  is  l^'ing  in  another.  John  sees  in  this  a  proof 
that  the  body  had  not  been  hastily  removed,  but  that 
Jesus  Himself  had  deliberately,  in  a  manner  characteristic, 
disrobed  Himself  of  the  grave-clothes,  folded  them  up 
and  laid  them  aside.  The  two  apostles,  after  a  moment's 
stay,  afraid,  perhaps,  that  the  Jews  would  find  them 
there,  and  accuse  them  of  stealing  the  body,  return  to 
the  city,  filled  with  unutterable  emotions. 

Mary  Magdalene,  who  has  again  reached  the  place, 
can  not  so  readily  tear  herself  away.  She  "  stood  with- 
out, at  the  sepulchre,  weeping."  Love  is  very  bold. 
Stooping  down  and  looking  into  the  sepulchre,  she  is 
scarcely  surprised,  much  less  terrified,  at  sight  of  the  two 
angelic  forms,  sitting  the  one  at  the  head,  the  other  at 
the  feet,  where  the  body  of  Jesus  had  lain.  "Woman," 
they  say,  "  why  weepest  thou  ?  "  "  Because  they  have 
taken  away  my  Lord,  and  I  know  not  where  they  have 
laid  Him."  While  thus  gazing  into  the  sepulchre,  she  is 
conscious  that  some  person  is  standing  near;  she  turns 
herself;  she  sees  a  stranger  ;  but  she  can  not  through 
the  ved  of  her  tears,  discern  in  that  stranger  her  adored 
Lord ;  and  besides,  her  passionate  seeking  for  the  dead 
prevents  her  recognizing  the  Living.  "Woman,"  says 
Jesus,  "why  weepest  thou?  whom  seekest  thou?"  She 
does  not  even  know  the  voice  ;  but  hastily  inferring  that 
He  is  the  gardener,  and  catching  eagerly  at  every  shadow 


THE    RESUKRECTIOX.  ToO 

of  hope,  she  replies,  "  Sir,  if  thou  have  borne  TTiin  licnrc, 
tell  me  where  thou  hast  laid  Iliiii,  and  I  will  take  Jlini 
awaj."  She  will  take  Him  away.  Such  is  the  conscious 
might  of  her  love.  "Mary!"  says  a  voice,  fainilijir  a,s 
it  is  dear, — a  voice  which  once  penetrated  the  depths  of 
her  disordered  consciousness,  and  has  often  since  sum- 
moned her  to  receive  instruction  and  comfort, —  a  voice 
which  now  thrills  her  soul  with  the  assurance  of  His  resur- 
rection and  personal  presence.  Turning  herself  quickly, 
she  pours  forth  her  love,  her  faith,  her  joy,  in  a  single 
rapturous  exclamation:   "Rabboxi!"     She  stru^'-fles  to 

-*■  DO 

embrace  His  feet;  she  would  renew  the  former  inter- 
course ;  she  clings  to  the  humanity  of  His  humiliation ; 
she  forgets,  for  the  moment,  that  He  is  risen,  or  believes 
that  He  has  returned,  like  Lazarus,  to  His  natural  life ; 
but  she  must  learn  that  He  is  no  longer  mortal ;  that 
He  has  entered  on  a  higher  mode  of  existence ;  that  her 
communion  with  Him  must  henceforth  be  of  a  different 
nature.  Therefore  He  shrinks  away  from  contact  with 
her,  saying,  "Touch  Me  not;  for  I  am  not  yet  ascended 
to  My  Father ;  but  go  to  My  brethren,  and  say  unto  them, 
I  ascend  unto  My  Father,  and  your  Father,  and  to  My 
God,  and  your  God."  This  implies  that  after  Ills  ascen- 
sion, His  people  should  enjoy  some  sort  of  contact  with 
Him ;  that  He  would  be  present  with  them  more  really 
and  in  a  higher  sense  than  during  the  period  of  His 
humiliation.  Blessed  are  those  who  have  learned  what 
this  meaneth ! 

Happy  Mary,  hasten  with  thy  tidings  to  the  disciples ! 
What  if  they  believe  not  ?  Not  many  hours  shall  elapse 
ere  their  unbelief,  rooted  after  all  in  love  that  longs  to 
believe,  shall  be  changed  to  full  assurance. 

It  was  probably  about  this  time  that  the  enemies  of 
our  Lord  received  the  first  intimations  of  His  resm-rection, 
from  the  soldiers  who  had  guarded  the  sepulchre.     The 


736  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

large  bribe  by  ^vhicll  tliey  suborned  them  to  declare  that 
the  disciples  stole  the  body  "while  they  were  sleeping  at 
their  post,  was  in  keeping  with  their  whole  course  of  pro- 
cedure from  the  time  they  bargained  with  Judas  to  betray 
his  Master  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver. 

The  interview  between  the  Lord  and  two  other  disciples, 
brieily  alluded  to  by  Mark,  is  circumstantially  and  most 
touchingly  narrated  by  Luke.  One  of  these  disciples  is 
nameless,*  but  the  other  was  Cleopas,  or  Cleopatros,  who 
must  not  be  confounded  with  the  Clopas,  or  Alpheus, 
mentioned  in  John  xix.  25.  The  names  are  quite  differ- 
ent, the  former  being  Greek,  the  latter  Aramean.  It  is 
assumed  by  Lange  that  these  disciples  were  of  Gentile 
extraction.!  Early  in  the  afternoon  they  left  Jerusalem 
for  Emniaus,  a  village  the  site  of  which  can  not  now  be 
identified,  some  eight  miles  west  or  north-west  from  the 
city.  The  motive  of  this  journey  is  not  apparent.  They 
had  already  heard  the  report  of  the  women  that  the  Lord 
was  risen,  and  it  seems  unaccountable,  notwithstanding 
their  incredulity,  that  they  did  not  remain  to  verify  that 
report.  We  cannot  but  conjecture  that,  overwhelmed  as 
they  were  with  perplexity  and  sorrow,  they  withdrew  from 
the  crowded  city,  throbbing  with  excitement,  to  the  still- 
ness and  seclusion  of  the  country,  for  the  purpose  of  calm 
deliberation  touching  their  future  course  of  action.  It 
is  evident  that  they  regarded  the  career  of  Jesus  as  ended. 
They  believed  that  He  was  dead;  and  their  hopes  touch- 
ing the  speedy  manifestation  of  the  kingdom  of  God  were 
buried  in  His  sepulchre.  Perhaps  in  their  despondency 
they  even  meditated  detaching  themselves  from  the  disci- 
ples, and  returning  to  their  own  homes.  If  so,  the  Good 
Shepherd,  whose  eyes  were  upon  them  though  they  saw 

*  Early  tradition  fixed  oil  Luke  himself  as  the  one  iiiteudod.     I  wisli  there 
were  evidence  of  the  fact. 
tLifc  of  Christ,  pp.  TO,  71. 


TUE    IlESUllRECTIOX.  737 

Him  not,  overtook  tliem  fooii  nflcr  their  departure  from 
the  fold. 

For  as  they  communed  together  by  the  v.ay,  and  rea- 
soned, not  it  seems  entirely  agreed  in  their  views,  a  Tkav- 
ELER  whom  they  knew^  not,  quite  naturally  joined  them 
and  walked  in  their  company.  Notwithstanding  His 
altered  form  they  w^ould  have  recognized  Him  as  the  cru- 
cified One,  had  not  their  eyes  been  "holden."  Perhaps 
they  were  not  well  pleased  at  this  interruption  of  their 
confidential  conference ;  but  the  Stranger  addressed  them 
in  a  kind  and  sympathizing  tone,  and  they  could  not  find 
it  in  their  hearts  to  repel  Him:  "What  manner  of  com- 
munications are  these  that  ye  have  one  to  another,  as  ye 
walk,  and  are  sad?"  The  words  indicate,  more  clearly  in 
the  Greek  than  in  the  English,  the  dreary  dejection  ex- 
pressed in  their  downcast  faces.*  Their  reply  intimates 
the  slightest  possible  irritation  as  well  as  surprise:  "Art 
Thou  only  a  stranger  in  Jerusalem,  and  hast  not  known 
the  things  which  are  come  to  pass  here  in  these  days?" 
"What  things?"  asks  the  unknown  Traveler.  Their  re- 
serve melts  aw^ay;  they  answer  frankly  enough:  "Con- 
cerning Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  was  a  Proj^het,  mighty  in 
deed  and  word  before  God,  and  all  the  people;  and  how 
the  chief  priests  and  our  rulers  delivered  Him  to  be 
condemned  to  death,  and  have  crucified  Him.  But  we 
trusted  that  it  had  been  He  which  should  have  redeemed 
Israel;  and  besides  all  this,  to-day  is  the  third  day  since 
these  things  were  done.  Yea,  and  certain  women  also 
of  our  company  made  us  astonished,  which  were  early  at 
the  sepulchre.  And  when  they  found  not  His  body,  they 
came,  saying  that  they  had  seen  a  vision  of  angels  which 
said  that  He  was  alive.  And  certain  of  them  that  were 
with  us  went  to  the  sepulchre,  and  found  it  even  as  the 


*Sce  Trench,  Studies  in  the  Gospels,  page  315,  note. 
47 


738  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

women  had  said ;  but  Him  they  saw  not."  These  words 
laid  open  their  inmost  hearts.  Their  ignorance  of  Christ 
as  the  God-man,  their  faith  in  Him  as  a  mighty  Prophet, 
their  hope  that  He  would  prove  to  be  the  Messiah,  their 
bitter  disappointment,  wdien  He  was  crucified,  their  love, 
stronger  than  death,  yearning  for  some  sufficient  proof  of 
His  resurrection — all  was  artlessly  disclosed.  And  this 
was  what  the  Lord  had  sought  to  draw  forth  by  His 
question.  Strange  that  they  did  not  begin  to  surmise 
who  He  was  when  He  reproved  them  for  their  stolid  un- 
belief: "0  fools,  and  slow  of  heart  to  believe  all  that  the 
prophets  have  spoken!  Ought  not  Christ  to  have  suf- 
fered these  things  and  to  enter  into  His  glory?"  It  was 
the  sufferings  of  Christ  that  had  staggered  their  faith.  It 
was  necessary  for  them  to  understand  that  those  sufferings 
entered  into  the  divine  scheme  of  redemption  from  the 
beginning.  Therefore  He  explained  to  them  the  prophe- 
cies touching  Himself,  from  Moses  down.  Surely,  if  Luke 
had  heard  that  wondrous  discourse  of  the  risen  Lord,  he 
would  have  preserved  some  record  of  it.  It  is  impossible 
to  doubt  that  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah  was  the 
central  prophecy  among  those  which  Jesus  expounded. 
Ere  they  reached  Emmaus,  the  two  disciples  had  been 
thoroughly  instructed  in  respect  to  the  necessity  of  Christ's 
atoning  death  as  prerequisite  to  the  glory  that  followed ; 
they  felt  themselves  marvellously  warmed  and  enlight- 
ened by  the  words  of  the  wonderful  Stranger ;  and  they 
were  unwilling  to  part  company  with  Him.  So  when 
they  reached  the  village,  they  said:  "Abide  with  us;  for 
it  is  toward  evening,  and  the  day  is  far  spent."  To  test 
their  faith  and  love, "  He  made  as  though  He  would  have 
gone  further,"  which  He  certainly  would  have  done,  had 
they  not  stood  the  test.  When  they  sat  down  to  meat, 
they  gave  Him  the  place  of  honor ;  and  it  was,  therefore, 
His  office  to  bless  and  In'onk  the  bread.     Something  pc- 


THE    RESURRECTION.  V39 

culiar  and  characteristic  in  His  action, — and  possiljly  the 
scars  in  His  hands, — revealed  Him  to  their  now  opened 
eyes.  But  at  the  moment  of  the  revelation,  He  vanished 
out  of  their  sight.  They  now  wondered  that  they  had  not 
recognized  Him  before  :  for  they  "  said  one  to  another,  Did 
not  our  heart  burn  Mithin  us  while  He  talked  with  us  by 
the  way,  and  while  He  opened  to  us  the  Scriptures?" 
They  have  now  no  further  business  at  Emmaus.  No 
longer  dejected  and  doubting,  they  traversed,  as  with 
winged  feet,  the  eight  miles  between  them  and  Jerusa- 
lem. They  found  the  apostles  gathered  together,  and 
they  were  greeted  with  the  joyful  tidings,  "The  Lord  is 
risen  indeed,  and  hath  appeared  to  Simon."  Then  they 
told  their  own  wondrous  story,  about  the  things  that  were 
done  in  the  way,  and  how  He  was  made  known  to  them 
in  the  breaking  of  bread. 

It  is  remarkable  that  while  the  apostles  believed  Peter, 
they  refused  to  credit  the  two  disciples.  How  shall  this 
be  explained?  Probably  He  appeared  to  Peter  almost 
immediately  after  He  vanished  from  the  view  of  the  two 
at  Emmaus.  That  He  thus  passed  from  place  to  place  at 
will,  after  His  resurrection,  is  certain ;  but  the  apostles 
had  not  yet  learned  that  He  was  liberated  from  the  con- 
ditions of  His  former  life  in  the  flesh.  Hence  they  re- 
garded the  story  of  the  two  disciples  as  opposed  to  the 
testimony  of  Peter.  While  they  were  thus,  in  a  thor- 
oughly rationalistic  spirit,  discussing  this  conflict  of  testi- 
mony, Jesus  Himself  stood  in  the  midst  of  them.  No 
door  had  opened ;  no  sound  had  been  heard ;  no  one  had 
seen  His  coming.  They  were  struck  with  superstitious 
dread.  This  mysterious  appearance,  combined  with  what 
they  had  just  heard  from  Peter  and  the  two  disciples, 
seemed  to  them  a  certain  proof  that  He  was  not  a  risen 
man,  but  a  disembodied  spirit.  They  had  no  conception 
of  a  resurrection  which  was  not  like  that  of  Lazarus,  (who 


740  THE   LIFE   OF   cnrjsT. 

perhaps  was  among  them  at  that  moment,)  in  his  natural 
])0(\y.  While,  therefore,  they  recognized  the  form  before 
them  as  that  of  Jesus,  they  hastily  though  quite  naturally 
thought  it  was  a  spectre.  Their  terror  was  not  dispelled 
when  He  said,  "  Peace  be  unto  you ! "  and  it  probably 
reached  its  height  when  He  began  to  "  upbraid  them  with 
their  unbelief  and  hardness  of  heart,  because  they  believed 
not  them  who  had  seen  Him  after  He  was  risen."  It  was 
necessary  that  their  fear — a  kind  of  fear  always  deadly  to 
true  faith — should  be  removed.  He  therefore  proceeded 
to  convince  them  that  He  was  truly  the  crucified  One 
risen  from  the  dead,  and  not  a  ghost  from  hades :  "  Why 
are  ye  troubled,  and  why  do  thoughts  arise  in  your  hearts  ? 
Behold  My  hands  and  My  feet,  that  it  is  I,  Myself: 
handle  Me  and  see ;  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones, 
as  ye  see  Me  have."  Then  He  showed  them  His  hands, 
His  feet,  and  His  side.  (John  xx.  20.)  The  disciples 
were  glad  when  they  thus  saw  the  Lord  ;  but  they  scarcely 
believed  for  joy.  That  all  doubt  might  be  extinguished. 
He  called  for  food  and  ate  in  their  presence  a  piece  of  a 
broiled  fish  and  of  a  honey-comb.  Thus  He  demonstrated 
to  them,  that  whatever  mysterious  change  had  passed 
upon  Him,  He  was  still  in  connection  with  the  natural 
world,  and  held  full  mastery  over  its  elements.  He  did 
not  intend  to  teach  them  that  His  life  would  continue  to 
be  sustained  by  natural  food,  but  rather  to  prove  to  their 
senses  the  reality  of  His  resurrection. 

Having  thus  calmed  their  agitation,  He  reminded  them 
that  all  which  had  perplexed  them  was  in  fulfillment  of 
His  own  words  while  He  was  yet  with  them,  as  well  as 
of  the  more  ancient  prophecies.  "  Then  opened  He  their 
understanding,  that  they  might  understand  the  Scriptures, 
and  said  unto  them,  Thus  it  is  written,  and  thus  it  be- 
hooved Christ  to  suffer,  and  to  rise  from  the  dead  the  third 
day;  and  that  repentance, and  remission  of  sins  should  be 


THE    RESURRECTION.  741 

preached  in  His  name  among  all  nations,  beginning  at 
Jerusalem.  And  ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things.  And 
behold  I  send  the  promise  of  My  Father  upon  you-  but 
tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  until  yo  be  endued 
with  power  from  on  high."  The  evangelists  have  re- 
corded this  commission  with  variations,  resulting  in  part 
from  the  peculiar  genius  and  design  of  each ;  but  it  is 
evident  that  many  things  were  said  by  the  Lord  which 
are  not  recorded.  John  was  impelled  to  select  the  more 
spiritual  sayings.  "  Then  said  Jesus  to  them  again,  Peace 
be  unto  you :  as  My  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I 
you.  And  wdien  He  had  said  this.  He  breathed  on  them, 
and  saith  imto  them.  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whose- 
soever sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto  them ;  and 
w^hosesoever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained."  The 
breathing  was  a  symbol  and  a  pledge  that  from  Him  the 
Holy  Ghost  should  come  upon  them  all ;  and  that  when 
thus  endued  with  His  spirit,  they  should  have  power  to 
convey  to  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  penitent  sinners, 
that  forgiveness  which  He  had  so  dearly  purchased  for 
them.  The  church  should  be  the  channel  through  which 
"remission  of  sins,"  as  Luke  has  it,  should  be  authorita- 
tively and  effectually  declared  to  the  broken-hearted  and 
believing.  There  were  sins,  however,  those  unto  death, 
W'hich  the  church  should  not  be  able  to  remit.  It  does 
not  appear  that  our  Lord  has  in  these  words  empowered 
His  church  to  remit  the  pimishment  of  sin,  either  in  this 
world,  or  in  the  w^orld  to  come. 

The  evangelist  Mark  has  given  still  another  phase  of 
this  commission  : — "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and  is 
baptized  shall  be  saved  ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be 
damned.  And  these  signs  shall  follow  them  that  believe: 
In  my  name  shall  they  cast  out  devils  ;  they  shall  spealv 
with  new  tongues;  they  shall  take  up  serpents;  and  if 


742  THE    LIFE    OF    CHEIST. 

they  drink  any  deadly  thing,  it  shall  not  hurt  them ;  they 
shall  lay  hands  on  the  sick,  and  they  shall  recover."  Thus 
the  Spirit  of  the  risen  Lord  is  to  work  through  the  church, 
doing  those  works  of  grace  and  power,  through  His  people, 
which  He  once  wrought  through  His  natural  body.  Has 
the  church  utterly  ceased  to  fulfill  its  functions  as  the 
Body  of  Christ  ? 

At  this  meeting,  Thomas  surnamed  the  Twin  was  not 
present.  The  cause  of  his  absence  is  not  intimated ;  but 
we  conjecture  that  he  was  just  then  in  no  mood  to  asso- 
ciate with  his  fellow-disciples.  He  was  evidently  of  a 
melancholy,  despondent  temper;  and  the  fearful  scenes 
of  Passion  Week  had  probably  plunged  him  into  the 
deepest  mental  distress.  He  was  brave,  loving,  and  con- 
stant, but  lacking  in  hope  and  faith.  Indeed,  He  is  well 
called  the  skejDtical  apostle.  When  the  other  disciples 
said  to  him,  "  We  have  seen  the  Lord,"  he  replied,  "  Ex- 
cept I  shall  see  in  His  hands  the  print  of  the  nails,  and 
put  my  finger  in  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my 
hand  into  His  side,  I  will  not  believe."  Have  we,  then, 
a  Hume,  or  a  Eenan  among  the  apostles  ?  Though  ten 
of  his  colleagues  testified  that  they  had  seen  their  Master 
alive,  he  would  not  believe.  He  would  not  be  convinced 
by  any  evidence  short  of  sensation :  nay,  he  would  not 
receive  the  testimony  of  a  single  sense ;  he  must  not 
only  see  but  handle ;  he  must  put  his  finger  into  the  print 
of  the  nails,  and  thrust  his  hand  into  His  side.  There 
is  something  wonderfully  modern  in  this.  A  Voltaire,  or 
a  Strauss,  could  not  have  demanded  more  overpowering 
evidence.  Even  previous  to  the  death  of  Christ,  the  ten- 
dency of  Thomas  to  call  in  question  everything  spiritual 
and  mysterious  had  been  clearly  disclosed.  When  Jesus 
said  that  He  was  going  to  His  Father,  and  by  a  way  which 
they  all  knew,  Thomas  broke  in  with  an  objection  :  "Lord, 
we  know  not  whither  Thou  goest,  and  how  can  we  know 


THE   KESUrjiECTION.  743 

the  way?"  That  is,  we  do  not  see  heaven,  or  the  God  of 
heaven  ;  how  then  can  we  know  the  way  to  heaven  and 
to  God  ?  He  required  some  sense-perception  of  the  spir- 
itual world,  some  Jacob's  ladder,  though  not  in  a  dream, 
which  would  show  him  the  end  of  his  journey  at  the  time 
he  set  out.  He  was  no  credulous  enthusiast,  no  dreamiui!; 
mystic,  no  hunter  after  marvels,  but  one  Avho  would  be 
called  in  our  generation  a  man  of  solid  sense,  resolutely 
rejecting  everything  strange  and  novel,  and  standing  on 
the  firm  granite  of  experience.  Hence,  when  he  heard 
the  news  of  the  Lord's  resurrection,  he  suspended  his 
judgment,  and  refused  to  believe  till  he  saw  with  his  own 
eyes,  and  handled  the  Word  of  Life  with  his  own  hands. 
It  is  probable  that,  but  for  the  unbelief  and  despondency 
of  Thomas,  the  disciples  would  have  at  once  set  out  for 
Galilee,  as  their  Lord  had  commanded  them ;  but  He 
would  not  lose  one  whom  the  Father  had  given  Him,  and 
they,  therefore,  doubtless  in  accordance  with  an  intimation 
from  Him,  remained  in  Jerusalem  another  week. 

On  the  evening  of  the  next  Lord's  Day,  the  disciples 
are  again  assembled  in  their  usual  place.  The  doors  are 
shut.  They  doubtless,  at  this  meeting,  expect  His  appear- 
ing ;  nor  are  they  disappointed.  Suddenly,  Jesus  is  seen 
standing  in  the  midst  of  the  little  assembly.  He  salutes 
them  as  before,  saying,  "  Peace  be  unto  you  !  "  We  im- 
agine that,  from  the  first.  His  eyes  were  fixed  in  pitying 
love  on  Thomas !  "  Reach  hither  thy  finger,  and  behold 
My  hands ;  and  reach  hither  thy  hand  and  thrust  it  into 
My  side,  and  be  not  faithless,  but  believing."  What  a 
moment  for  Thomas !  Will  he  accept  the  challenge  ?  Will 
he  critically  examine  the  scars  of  his  Lord,  whom  he 
loves,  after  all,  with  all  the  strength  and  fervor  of  a 
great  heroic  soul !  He  responds  to  the  challenge  in 
words  of  adoration:  "My  Lord,  and  My  God!"  Those 
who  regard  this  as  an  exclamation  of  idle  wonder,  or  at 


744  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

best,  of  sudden  joy,  are  incapable  of  entering  into  the 
deeper  facts  of  our  Lord's  history.  No ;  Thomas  meant 
what  he  said.  From  that  moment  his  faith  in  his  Divme 
Lord  never  wavered.  Yet  even  Thomas  would  have  been 
more  blessed  had  he  believed  without  seeing.  "Jesus 
saith  unto  him,  Thomas,  because  thou  hast  seen  Me,  thou 
hast  believed :  blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and 
vet  have  believed."  His  lack  of  confidence  in  the  testi- 
mony  of  his  fellow-disciples  was  unreasonable ;  in  some 
degree  it  was  criminal ;  at  any  rate,  it  robbed  him  of  the 
peace  and  joy  with  which  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord 
would  otherwise  have  filled  his  soul. 

The  church  to-day  testifies  that  she  saw  the  Lord  after 
His  resurrection  and  heard  His  voice ;  nay,  that  she  sees 
Him  still,  especially  in  the  breaking  of  bread,  and  that 
He  is  with  her  always,  her  Lord  and  her  God.  Blessed 
are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed ! 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  RISEN  SAVIOUR  IX  GALILEE. 

JESUS  SHOWS  HIMSELF  TO  SEVEN  DISCIPLES  AT  THE  SEA  OF  TIBERIAS — 
HE  APPEARS  TO  MORE  THAX  FIVE  HUNDRED  OX  A  MOUNTAIN  IN 
GALILEE. 

John  xxi.  1-24.    Matthew  xxviii.  10-20.    I.  Corinthians  xv.  6. 

There  were  no  more  toilsome  journeys  for  the  Lord 
over  the  dusty  plains  and  parched  hills  of  Palestine.  He 
last  met  the  disciples  in  Jerusalem :  they  will  next  see 
Him  in  Galilee ;  but  He  does  not  now,  as  formerly,  walk 
with  them  through  the  vale  of  Sychar,  and  down  the 
precipitous  hills  which  mirror  themselves  in  the  blue 
waters  of  Gennesaret.  Yet  He  will  come  to  them  on 
the  shore  of  that  fair  lake,  though  not  from  Jerusalem, 
not  by  any  earthly  pathway. 

Jesus  had  commanded  the  disciples  to  go  into  Galilee ; 
and  had  doubtless  appointed  the  time  and  the  place  of 
their  convocation.  It  seems  quite  certain  that  all  the 
pronounced  disciples  in  Judea,  Perea,  and  Galilee  were 
summoned  to  the  assembty ;  and  many,  as  we  shall  see, 
obeyed  the  summons.  The  time  was  favorable  for  their 
making  the  journey  without  attracting  special  notice, 
for  many  caravans  of  pilgrims  were  now  returning  from 
the  Passover  to  their  distant  homes.  The  apostles  were 
once  more  in  their  old  homes,  and  among  familiar  scenes. 
Peter  was  apparently  with  his  family  at  Capernaum,  and 
several  of  the  apostles  were  with  him.     These  were  Na- 


746  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

tlianael  Bartholomew,  Thomas  Diclymus,  the  two  sons 
of  Zebedee,  and  two  other  disciples  who  are  nameless. 
Peter,  impatient  of  idleness,  and  not  averse  to  his  for- 
mer occupation,  longing  perhaps  to  be  afloat  once  more 
on  the  fair  Galilean  lake,  suddenly  declared  his  purpose 
to  improve  what  seemed  a  favorable  night  for  fishing. 
His  friends  at  once  expressed  their  wish  to  join  him. 
So  they  launched  forth,  probably  in  Peter's  own  boat. 
But  the  time  was  less  propitious  than  they  thought,  for 
during  the  whole  night  they  caught  nothing.  We  can 
not  help  thinking,  however,  that  they  had  sweet  com- 
munion with  one  another,  as  they  let  down  and  drew  up 
their  empty  nets. 

In  the  morning  twilight  One  stood  on  the  shore  whom 
they  knew  not,  and  called  to  them,  as  if  desiring  to  buy 
of  them,  "Children,  have  ye  any  meat?"  The  mode  of 
address,  being  in  the  usual  style  of  the  country,  caused 
them  no  surprise,  and  they  simply  answered.  No.  When 
He  told  them  to  cast  the  net  on  the  right  side  of  the  boat, 
thinking  perhaps  that  He  had  observed  some  indications 
in  the  agitated  water  of  what  fishermen  call  a  shoal  in 
that  direction,  they  at  once  obeyed,  and  the  net  en- 
closed so  man}^  fish  that  they  were  unable  to  draw  it  up. 
John,  reminded  of  the  former  miraculous  draught,  and 
glancing  with  his  quick,  penetrating  eye  at  Him  who 
stood  on  the  shore,  said  to  Peter,  "  It  is  the  Lord  !"  Peter, 
with  a  less  fine  and  delicate  perception,  but  with  more  de- 
cision and  promptitude  than  the  beloved  disciple,  instantly 
girt  his  outer  garment  around  him,  plunged  into  the  sea, 
and  swam  ashore,  a  distance  of  a  hundred  yards.  The 
other  six  disciples  slowly  drag  the  net  to  land,  and  unable 
even  then  to  forego  their  usual  habit  of  counting,  found 
that  they  had  taken  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  fish  of  ex- 
traordinary size.  They  were  the  more  inclined  to  count 
them,  because  they  regarded  the  draught  as  miraculous. 


THE    RISEN    SAVIOUR    IX    GALILEE.  747 

They  were  doubtless  surprised  when  they  saw  a  fire  of 
coals,  with  fish  broiling  upon  it,  and  a  supply  of  bread  for 
the  morning  meal.  Having  added  some  of  the  fish  which 
they  had  just  taken,  "Jesus  said  unto  them,  Come  and 
dine."  There  was  evidently  something  peculiar  and  un- 
earthly in  the  appearance  of  the  Lord,  such  as  to  suggest 
though  not  to  confirm  the  sliofhtest  shade  or  becrinniu": 
of  doubt  touching  His  identity.  "None  of  the  disciples 
durst  ask  Him,  Who  art  Thou  ?  knowing  that  it  was  the 
Lord." 

Having  thus  given  proof  of  His  sympathy  with  those 
wants  and  weaknesses  of  their  mortal  nature  to  which 
He  was  no  longer  subject,  Jesus  addressed  Himself  to 
Peter :  "  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  Me  more  than 
these?"  He  no  longer  calls  him  the  man  of  eock;  he 
is  no  longer  Peter  since  his  three-fold  denial  of  his  Lord ; 
and  though  he  has  been  forgiven,  he  is  still  virtually  sus- 
pended from  the  apostolic  office.  To  him  this  sudden 
question,  whether  he  loved  Jesus  more  than  his  fellow- 
disciples,  is  terrible.  Besides,  the  Zoi'e  which  Jesus  in- 
quires after  is  not  that  warm,  personal  affection  with 
which  the  heart  of  Peter  is  at  this  moment  palpitating 
but  if  a  higher,  yet  a  calmer,  uiore  reasoning,  less  pas- 
sionate attachment.  Peter  is  hurt  by  what  strikes  him 
as  the  cold  and  cautious  form  of  the  question,  as  well  as 
by  its  substance.  He  therefore  not  now  comparing  him- 
self with  the  other  disciples,  replies,  "  Yea,  Lord ;  Thou 
knowest  that  I  love  Thee."  "Zore — this  high,  calm  love 
of  moral  esteem — is  too  cold  to  express  what  I  feel ;  my 
affection  towards  Thee  is  tender  and  ardent,  like  that  of 
a  bosom  friend."  Jesus  answered,  "Feed  My  lambs." 
Prove  your  attachment  by  deeds,  especially  b}'  tenderly 
caring  for  the  helpless  and  feeble  of  My  flock.  Jesus 
puts  the  same  question,  in  the  same  form,  a  second  time ; 
and  Peter  returns  the  same  answer.     Jesus  in  response 


748  THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 

says,  "Feed  My  sheep."  Thus  He  fully  restores  the 
repentant  disciple  to  the  apostleship.  And  now  in  ask- 
ing a  third  time,  "  Lovest  thou  Me  ? "  He  takes  up 
Peter's  word,  signifying  personal  and  passionate  attach- 
ment. Peter,  however,  is  grieved  at  the  repetition  of  a 
question  which  seems  to  intimate  a  doubt  of  his  sin- 
cere affection ;  so  he  throws  himself  on  the  Lord's  om- 
niscience, exclaiming,  "Lord,  Thou  knowest  all  things; 
Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee."  Again,  the  command 
is,  "  Feed  My  sheep." 

Having  thus  renewed  Peter's  apostolic  commission,  our 
Lord  gives  him  a  prophetic  insight  into  the  future : 
"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  when  thou  wast  young 
thou  girdedst  thyself  and  walkedst  whither  thou  wouldest; 
but  when  thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shalt  stretch  forth  thy 
hands,  and  another  shall  gird  thee,  and  carry  thee  whither 
thou  wouldest  not."  Jesus  had  just  seen  Peter,  in  the 
full  strength  of  manhood,  gird  his  fisher's  coat  about  him, 
and  swim  with  muscular,  outstretched  arms  to  the  shore. 
He  tells  him  that  he  should  live  to  old  age,  but  then,  in 
his  weakness  he  would  be  compelled  to  stretch  forth  his 
hands  on  the  cross,  to  which  he  should  be  bound  and  fas- 
tened by  his  enemies.  He  closes  with  the  general  com- 
mand, which  they  had  so  often  heard,  "  Follow  Me,"  and 
begins  to  withdraw.  Peter,  understanding  Him  literally, 
and  supposing,  perhaps,  that  Jesus  had  something  to  com- 
municate to  him  apart  from  the  other  disciples,  follows 
Him.  Turning  about,  he  sees  that  John  is  also  following. 
Not  in  a  spirit  of  petulance,  but  of  untimely  curiosity, 
he  says  to  Jesus,  "Lord,  and  what  shall  this  man  do?" 
Jesus,  in  His  former  characteristic  manner,  replies,  "  If  I 
will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  Fol- 
low thou  Me."  It  is  scarcely  surprising  that  in  John's 
extreme  old  age  the  affection  of  the  disciples  should  have 
turned  this  saying  into  a  positive  declaration,  that  John 


THE    EISEN    SAVIOUR    IN    GALILEE.  749 

should  never  die,  but  should  survive  to  be  changed  and 
translated  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 

Where  the  "  great  congregation  "  of  the  disciples  was 
convened  is  unknown.  It  is  almost  certain  that  at  this 
meeting  the  five  hundred  brethren  mentioned  by  Paul, 
w^ere  assembled  with  the  eleven  apostles,  who  alone  are 
mentioned  by  Matthew.  The  circumstances  of  this  ap- 
pearing are  not  related ;  but  it  seems  to  have  been  in 
peculiar  majesty.  When  the  disciples  saw  Him,  they 
prostrated  themselves  in  adoration,  though  some — none 
of  the  apostles,  surely — "  doubted,"  not  His  resurrection, 
but  the  lawfulness  of  such  adoration.  He,  however,  ac- 
cepted their  worship,  and  "  spake  unto  them,  saying,  All 
power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye 
therefore  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  M'hatsoever  I 
have  commanded  you;  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  always, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.     Amen." 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  ASCENSION. 

DuEiXG  the  forty  days  subsequent  to  His  resurrection, 
our  Lord  had  no  fixed  abode  on  earth.  He  did  not,  as 
some  have  imagined,  dwell  in  seclusion  with  His  blessed 
mother;  much  less  in  some  solitary  place  w^ience  He 
went  forth,  at  intervals,  to  show  Himself  to  His  disciples. 
Though  His  material  body,  far  from  being  annihilated  or 
given  over  to  corruption,  came  forth  from  the  tomb  the 
same  body,  it  was  mysteriously  changed  and  glorified. 
Matter,  in  His  risen  humanity,  was  transmuted  into  some- 
thing rich  and  rare :  I  had  almost  said  that  it  passed,  by 
a  wondrous  transubstantiation,  into  spirit.  It  became  a 
"  spiritual  body."  Instinct  with  immortal  life  and  energy, 
it  was  no  longer  bound  by  the  laws  of  natural  corjooreity. 
Jesus  no  longer  belonged  to  the  natural  world,  though  the 
natural  world  still  belonged  to  Him,  and  was  more  than 
ever  subject  to  His  royal  will. 

The  theory  has  been  broached,  and  has  found  some 
distinguished  advocates,  that  the  body  of  the  Lord  w\as 
gradually  glorified  during  the  great  forty  days.  It  is  a 
theory  beset  with  fatal  difficulties ;  and  it  derives  no  sup- 
port from  the  Scriptures.  While  it  seems  to  account  for 
the  delay  of  the  ascension,  it  attaches  to  that  event  an 
importance,  as  compared  with  the  resurrection,  Avhich 
the  evangelists  do  not  ascribe  to  it.  ludeed,  Matthew 
and  John  do  not  even  mention  the  ascension,  evidently 
because   they  regard  it  as  implied  in  His   resurrection ; 


THE    ASCENSION.  751 

while  Mark  and  Luke  make  it  quite  subordinate.  The 
significance  of  the  ascension  depends  entirely  on  our 
Lord's  mode  of  existence  after  He  rose  from  the  dead. 
If  He  Avas  glorified  in  His  resurrection,  then  the  ascen- 
sion becomes  tlie  last  of  His  appearances  to  His  discijjies, 
and  as  such,  memorable  and  glorious,  but  not  a  proof  of 
any  change  in  His  humanity,  or  in  His  relations  to  the 
natural  world  on  the  one  hand  or  to  the  spiritual  on  the 
other.  If  it  be  now  asked,  where  did  our  Lord  dwell 
during  the  great  fort}-  days,  we  ask  in  reply,  where  but 
in  heaven  itself — in  the  Father's  house — the  true  home 
of  His  glorified  humanity  ?  From  the  morning  of  His 
resurrection.  He  was  an  inhabitant  of  the  heavenly  world. 
Except  when  He  was  with  His  disciples — nay,  even  then, 
— He  was  surrounded  with  celestial  hosts  who  adored  and 
served  Him  as  their  King  and  Lord,  He  vanished  from 
the  eyes  of  men  into  a  w^orld  of  ineffable  light  and  beauty 
and  blessedness.  He  was  already  crowned ;  He  was  al- 
ready, as  He  told  the  disciples  on  the  Galilean  mountain, 
invested  with  all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth ;  He  w'as 
already  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  God. 

The  inspired  history  records  eleven  distinct  appearances 
of  the  Lord  during  the  forty  days ;  but  w^e  infer  from  the 
words  of  Luke*  that  these  were  by  no  means  all.  It  is 
jDrobable  that  to  one  or  more  of  the  disciples  He  showed 
Himself  almost  dail3-.  For  these  frequent  manifestations 
there  was  urgent  need.  The  disciples  were  as  yet  too 
infirm  and  timid  to  go  alone.  They  could  not  even  stand 
without  His  personal  presence ;  for,  though  Jesus  was 
glorified,  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given.  They  were 
not  prepared  for  the  Spirit-baptism ;  the}"  must  be  taught 
to  seek  for  it  in  earnest  prayer;  their  hearts  must  be 
uplifted  to  receive  it.      Thus  the   state  of  the  disciples 

*Acts  i.  3. 


752  THE    LIFE    OF    CUEIST. 

serves  to  explain  not  only  our  Lord's  frequent  manifesta- 
tions to  tliem  after  Plis  resurrection,  but  also  the  delay 
of  the  promised  effusion  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  period  of  delay,  however,  was  now  drawdnglo  a  close. 
The  disciples  were  again  assembled  at  Jerusalem,  not  now 
dispirited  and  perplexed,  but  full  of  hope  and  joy.  They 
probably  expected  that  Christ's  visible  reign  would  com- 
mence about  the  time  of  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
When,  therefore,  they  came  together, — perhaps  in  their 
usual  chamber  in  the  city, — and  Jesus  Himself  stood  in 
the  midst  of  them,  "  they  asked  of  Him,  saying,  Lord,  wult 
Thou  at  this  time  restore  again  the  kingdom  to  Israel?" 
He  answered  :  '•  It  is  not  for  you  to  know  the  times  or 
the  seasons  which  the  Father  hath  put  in  His  own  power. 
But  ye  shall  receive  power  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
come  upon  you ;  and  ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  Me,  both 
in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto 
the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth." 

Having  thus  again  repeated  the  substance  of  the  great 
commission.  He  led  forth  the  disciples  up  the  familiar  road 
to  the  summit  of  Mount  Olivet.  Having  passed  the  crest 
of  the  mountain  to  the  eastern  slope,  over  against  Beth- 
any, He  lifted  up  His  hands  to  bless  them,  and  in  the  act 
He  ascended  through  the  air  till  a  cloud — probably  the 
li":ht-cloud  of  the  transfio-uration — received  Him  out  of 
their  sight.  While  they  were  gazing  upward,  two  angels 
in  human  form,  clad  in  white  robes,  stood  by  them,  and 
said  to  them,  and  through  them  to  us,  "  Ye  men  of  Galilee, 
why  stand  ye  gazing  up  in  heaven  ?  This  same  Jesus, 
who  is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come,  in 
like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  Him  go  into  heaven." 

In  these  last  days,  the  voice  of  the  ascended  Lord  is 
sounding  full  and  clear  in  the  ears  of  all  who  wake  and 
watch :  "  Surely,  I  come  quickly.     Amen." 

Even  so,  come  Lord  Jesus  I    Amen. 


Index. 


Abraham,  page  53,  GO,  82,  119,  196,  203, 
494-96,  554,  555,  630. 

Accommodation,  Christ's  use  of,  292. 

Adulteress,  decision  in  case  of,  499. 

Adultery,  Mosaic  law  of,  498;  Christ's 
command  concerning,  305 ;  only  cause 
for  divorce,  577,  578. 

Advent,  second,  of  Christ,  644-52. 

Agony  in  the  garden,  681-88. 

Allegory  illustrating  the  incarnation,  71. 

Ambition  of  the  disciples  rebuked,  473- 
75,  588. 

Andrew,  282,  283. 

Anna,  prophetess,  81. 

Annas  or  Ananus,  654,  693,  698,  699. 

Anointing  of  Jesus  by  Mary,  603. 

Apostles,  subordinate  teachers,  278 ; 
choosing  the,  280-87 ;  uneducated  men, 
156,  279;  training  of,  289,  291-96,  369- 
73,  400,  404,  569 ;  trial  mission  of,  400- 
406  ;  commission  of,  after  the  resurrec- 
tion, 741,  742,  749. 

Ascension  of  Christ,  752. 

Augustus,  76,  77. 

Astrology,  89. 

Baptism,  by  John,  118;  by  Avater  and 
fire,  120  ;  of  Christ  by  John,  122,  123  ; 
instituted  by  Christ,  124 ;  consecration 
to  His  otBce  as  Messiah,  124 ;  symbol, 
126;  of  suffering,  681-88;  Pharisees 
question  John's  baptism,  148,  14'J. 

Bartiraeus,  592. 

Bethany,  Ciirist  at,  556,  601. 

Bethabara,  Christ  at,  148-57. 

Bethesda,  luiracle  at,  216. 

Bethsaida,  miracle  at,  443. 

Blasphemy,  against  Holy  Ghost,  against 
the  Son  of  man,  353. 

Body  and  blood  of  Christ,  670-73. 

Bread  of  life,  422. 

C^SAR,  rights  of,  626-28. 
Caiaphas,  567,  568,  654,  655,  693. 
Calvary,  716. 
Cana,  159. 

48 


Capernaum,  description  of,  166,  167; 
Christ  at,  166,  237,  243,  257,  819,  382, 
412,  421, 471 ;  in  synagogue  at,  244,  273. 

Celibacy,  159. 

Census  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  76. 

Centurion's  servant  healed,  322. 

Children  blessed,  581. 

Christ,  descent  from  David,  C9,  77,  82; 
birth  of,  46,  77 ;  circumcision  of,  79 ; 
among  tlie  doctors,  102;  His  brothers 
and  sisters,  103  ;  education  of,  98-100 ; 
trade  of,  104;  example  of,  ennobles  la- 
bor, 109;  as  king,  609-13;  left  no 
written  document,  103 ;  His  svmpathy 
with  men,  106,  107,  158;  light  of  the 
world,  492,  503,  642 ;  His  struggles  of 
soul,  682,  683,  687,  688;  trial  of,  698- 
703;  crucifixion  of,  718,  724;  resurrec- 
tion of,  731;  last  appearance  of,  752; 
ascension  of,  752. 

Christians  to  be  light  of  the  world,  302. 

Church,  end  of  tlie  Old  Covenant,  177 ; 
New  Covenant  founded,  178,  278,  314; 
Christ's  care  of,  424  ;  care  of  behever, 
425 ;  true  strength  of,  302. 

Commandment,  first  and  great,  634 ;  the 
new,  667. 

Crucifixion  of  Christ,  718,  724 ;  place  of 
716. 

David,  Christ  son  of,  69,  77,  82.  63.'). 

Death  of  Christ,  intiraatejl  by  Himself, 
587. 

Devi!,  personal,  128-31 ;  tempting  Christ, 
135,  139-42;  baffled,  142. 

Demoniacal  possession,  128, 245,  351,  377, 
378. 

De  Ligny,  192,  200,  201,  206. 

Discii)lcs,  sifting  of,  426;  fail  to  cure  luna- 
tic child,  462 ;  ambition  of,  47;)-75,  588, 
662,  663 ;  choice  of  seventy,  516 ;  warn- 
iny:s  to,  645-52,  609 ;  consolation  of, 
676-79. 

Disciples  of  John  jealous  of  Cluist,  VM. 

Discipleship,  test  of,  310. 

Dives  and  Lazarus,  554,  555. 


THE    LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 


Divine  nature  in  Christ,  54,  82-4. 
Divorce,  577-79 ;  forbidden  by  Clirist  for 
any  other  cause  than  adultery,  578. 

Elizabeth,  75. 

Eninmus,  conversation  on   the   way  to, 

737-39. 
Enon,  189. 

Ephraini,  Christ  at,  570. 
Eucharist,  institution  of,  G70. 

Faith,  263,  468 ;  different  stages  of,  322, 
323,  446,  465-68,  572;  the  necessary 
conditions  of  aid  from  Christ,  439 ;  cen- 
turion's, 322;  Syro-Phoenician  wo- 
man's, 439;  power  of,  467,  017-19; 
faith  and  forgiveness,  344,  435. 

Fasting,  384,  885. 

Father,  Christ's  oneness  with,  221,  222, 
518,  541,  542. 

Feet,  wasliing  of,  603-65. 

Fig-tree  cursed,  014. 

Fire  to  be  kindled,  528. 

Forgiveness,  258-64,  344,  475. 

Feast  of  Purim,  214 ;  of  tabernacles, 
479 ;  of  dedication,  536 ;  of  the  Pass- 
over, 658-62. 

Gadarene  demoniac,  377,  378. 

Galilee,  description  of,  208 ;  Christ's  la- 
bors in,  208-10,  228,  328,  399,  400 ;  His 
appearance  in,  after  resurrection,  746, 
752. 

Gennessaret,  173. 

Gethsemane,  Jesus'  last  visit  to,  681. 

Gibbon,  24. 

Golgotha,  724. 

Grace  unmerited,  584,  585. 

Hades,  392,  731. 

Heart  of  God,  548-50. 

Herod  the  Great,  85-87,  90-92 ;  Antipas, 

577 ;  Agrippa,  283. 
Herodias,  407. 
Herodians,  625-28. 
Holiness,  what  it  is,  235. 
Holy    Ghost   at   Christ's    baptism,    123; 

agent  of  new  birth,  184 ;    blasphemy 

against,  353;   breathed  upon  aijostles, 

741. 
Hypocrisy  rebuked,  308,  533,  621,  536,  537. 

Immaculate  conception,  70. 

Jacob's  well,  198. 

Jiiirus'  daughter,  390-92. 

James  the  brother  of  Christ,  286. 

James  and  John,  sons  of  Zei)edee,  283. 

Jeahjuey  of  John  the  Baptist's  discij)les, 

190. 
Jericlio,  593,  .594;  Christ  at,  591,  595. 
Jerusalem,  Christ  a  babe  at,  80 ;  secoml 

time  at,  101;    with  the   Rabbis,  102; 

His  first  journey  to,  with  His  disciples. 


168 ;  second  time,  213 ;  his  first  labors 
at,  173;  last  journey,  570;  triumphal 
entry,  610-13 ;  Aveeps  over,  013 ;  judg- 
ments predicted  upon,  613,  637. 

Jesus,  birth  of,  74-77  ;  infancy  of,  82,  96 ; 
humanity  of,  82,  88,  97,  98 ;  baptism  of, 
122-20;  work  of,  205,  229;  supposed 
prophecy  concerning,  240. 

John  the  Baptist,  birthplace  of,  113 ;  di- 
vine appointment  of,  115 ;  preaching  of, 
117-20 ;  obscure  mode  of  life,  115 ;  re- 
lations to  Messiah,  120,  149 ;  in  prison, 
828;  possible  wavering  in  his  convic- 
tions, 329 ;  his  message  from  prison 
830 ;  he  points  out  Christ,  150, 152, 153 ; 
Christ's  testimony  of,  335 ;  his  position 
as  defined  by  Christ,  335;  death  of, 
407. 

John  the  evangelist  joins  Christ,  153  ;  his 
disposition  and  tendencies,  283,  284. 

John  Mark,  692. 

Joseph,  69,  76,  77,  80. 

Joseph  of  Ariinathea,  725. 

Judas  Iscariot,  287-89,  603,  656,  657,  666, 
667,  689,  690,  715. 

Judgment  intimated  by  Christ,  493,  535, 
613,  622,  637. 

Keys,  power  of  the,  447. 

Kingdom  of  God,  best  preparation  for  ser- 
vice in,  110 ;  to  enter  it  must  be  born 
agaili,  183 ;  Christ  must  be  confessed 
openly,  187  ;  as  preached  by  our  Lord, 
252 ;  illustrations,  307-73 ;  as  disclosed 
in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  298 ;  the 
twelve  men  chosen  to  proclaim  it,  280, 
291 ;  subjects  of,  301 ;  seek  ye  first  the, 
808;  few  enter,  309;  faith,  323. 

Kingdom  of  evil,  origin,  130;  overthrow 
of,  248. 

Last  supper,  662,  670 ;  reflections  upon, 

670-75. 
Law,  observed  by  Christ,  79,  81,  268;  His 

destroying  and  fulfilling  of,  304,  305; 

law  and  gospel,  297,  298. 
Lawyers,  364,  365,  519,  634. 
Lazarus,  family  of,  537,  556 ;    death  of, 

558 ;  resurrection  of,  564. 
Leper  healed,  253  ;  ten  healed,  571. 
Light  of  world,  Christ  the,  492,  503,  642. 
Lord's  prayer,  806,  522. 

Magians,  87-91. 

Marriage,  629,  630 ;  at  Cana,  160. 

Martha,  587-40,  550,  557,  561-64,  602. 

Mary  Magdalene,  726,  782-85. 

Miiry,  sister  of  Lazarus,  537-40,  550-58, 

562,  608-07.    • 
Marv,  motlier  of  Jesus,  69-81,  159-61, 

801,  722,  788. 
Matthew's  feast,  Christ  at,  383. 
Messiah,  advent  of,  47  ;  jilace  in  history, 

52;     world's    condition,     I'liiiy's    testi- 


INDEX. 


tO'J 


mony,  57 ;  longing  for  and  prep.-imtion 
of  thu  nations,  G4 ;  Jews  looking  for, 
IIG,  117,  120;  fiillun  spirits,  m,  liJi3; 
Simeon's,  80;  Christ  thu  conscious  Mes- 
siah, 102,  tJS(3 ;  attested  from  heaven, 
123,  455;  declares  himself  such,  204; 
self-revelation,  IG  t,  250 ;  mission,  181, 
229,  recognized  as  by  John,  122,  120; 
Nicodemus,  181 ;  final  rejection  of,  by 
the  Jews,  715. 

Miracles,  why  skeptics  deny  their  credi- 
bility, 31 ;  such  denial,  infidelity,  40 ; 
no  violation  of  laws  of  nature,  43 ;  evi- 
dence from  action  of  mind  upon  mat- 
ter, 40;  always  Mrought  for  man's 
spiritual  good,  41 ;  essential  parts  of 
revelation,  42. 

Miracle  of  changing  water  to  wine,  101 ; 
healing  nol)leman's  son,  211 ;  impotent 
man,  21G;  draught  of  fishes,  238;  de- 
moniac at  Capernaum,  245 ;  Peter's 
wife  s  mother,  24G ;  leper,  253 ;  para- 
lytic, 258;  withered  hand,  274;  centu- 
rion's servant,  822;  widow's  son,  325; 
blind  and  dumb  demoniac,  351 ;  storm 
subdued,  375;  Gadarene  demoniac, 
377  378;  issue  of  blood,  389,  390; 
Jairus'  daughter,  390-92;  two  blind 
men,  392,  393 ;  feeding  of  five  thousand, 
416 ;  symbolical  meaning  of,  423 ;  walks 
upon  the  sea,  418 ;  symbolical  meaning 
of,  424 ;  Syro-Phoenician  woman,  432- 
35;  deaf  and  dumb  man,  441;  lilind 
man  at  Betlisaida,  443 ;  lunatic  child, 
4C4-G7;  tribute  money,  471 ;  blind  man 
at  pool  of  Siloam,  503 ;  infirm  woman, 
532,  533  ;  dropsical  man,  544;  ten  lepers, 
571;  blind  Bartimeus,  592;  raising  of 
Lazarus,  5G4. 

Mount,  Sermon  on,  299. 

Mount  Gerizim,  196. 

Nain,  miracle  at,  325. 

Name  of  Christ,  prayer  in  the,  G79. 

Nathaniel,  calling  of,  154. 

Nazareth,  95;  return  to  from  Egypt,  93; 

Christ's  first  preaching  at,  229 ;  rejected 

at,  232. 
New  birth,  177-88. 
Nicodemus,  interview  with  Christ,  181- 

88 ;  in  Sanhedrim,  180,  181,  491,  492. 
Nobleman's  son,  210. 

Outcast,  the,  342-45. 

Pool  of  Betiiesda,  215 ;  of  Siloam.  503. 
Parable,    idea  of,    293,  290 ;   use    of  by 

Christ,  370. 
Parables,  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  367-73; 

of   sower,    3GG,    307;    drag   net,    373; 

wheat  and  tares,  807  ;  lost  sheep,  550 ; 

ten  pieces  silver,  550;  new  wine  in  old 

bottles,  385,  380  ;  prodigal  son,  550-52; 

Pharisee  and  publican,  574 ;  great  sup- 


\H}T,  545;  unjust  steward,  553 ;  tower, 
547  ;  precious  jicarl,  373  ;  mustard  heeil, 
308;  Dives  and  I^izarus,  554,  555; 
pounds,  597,  598;  lahorers  in  vine- 
yard, 584;  fig-tree,  532;  good  Samari- 
tan, 519,  520;  wediling  feast,  022,  02.3; 
wicked  imshandmen,  G21 ;  talents,  475, 
470;  ten  virgins,  051;  leaven,  3ti9; 
tiiree  loaves,  523;  hid  treasure,  373; 
rich  fool,  520;  unjust  judge,  573;  houMi 
upon  a  rock,  310. 

Paradise,  722. 

Passover,  059-02. 

Paulus,  25,  29. 

Peace,  Christ's  salutation  of,  740. 

Pera;a,  Christ  in,  510-35. 

Peter,  his  first  meeting  with  Christ,  1.j3  ; 
Ins  call  and  character,  280-82,  007-09  ; 
his  acknowledgments  of  Christ,  42'"., 
445;  his  denial  of,  095;  repentance, 
090 ;  obtains  power  of  keys,  447 ;  his 
death  foretold,  748. 

Pharisees,  119, 194,  200, 350,  300, 303.  304, 
384,  427,  443,  477,  480,  535,  03:i-38. 

Pharisaism,  275. 

Pharisee  and  publican,  574-77. 

Philii),  conversation  with  Christ,  415; 
with  Thomas,  077. 

Pontius  Pilate,  his  character,  705,  706; 
dealings  with  Christ,  707-15. 

Prayer,  forms  of.  522 ;  Lord's  Prayer,  30C ; 
in  name  of  Christ,  079 ;  of  Christ  as 
High  Priest,  079;  in  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane,  081-88;  for  his  enemies, 
718. 

Problem  of  history,  24. 

Publicans,  Christ  with,  383. 

Proselytes  of  the  gate,  038,  040. 

Rah'ui,  title  of,  as  apjilied  to  Clirist,  154. 
Raising  of  the  ilead,  325,  390-92,  509. 

Renan,  25,  99 ;  service  to  Christianity,  28. 

Resurrection,  intimated  by  Christ,  501, 
029-32;  of  Christ,  731. 

Retribution,  in  this  life,  217. 

Reward  in  heaven,  2'J9,  .302,  58 <;  re- 
wards, i)assion  for,  rebuked,  5'.K). 

Ruler,  Christ's  conversation  with,  582, 
583. 

Roman  tax-gatherers,  119,  120. 

SAnuATH.  210,  220,  245.  271. 

Sabbath-breaking,  Christ  accused  of,  218, 
219. 

Sacrifice  of  purification,  79. 

Sadducecs,  119,  028-32. 

Salome's  request,  588. 

Samaritan,  good,  parable.  510.  520. 

Siiniuritan  woman,  conversation  with. 
198-205. 

Samaritans,  190,  197,  203.  204 ;  reasons 
for  their  exclusion  from  first  mission 
of  apostles.  400.  401 :  final  rejection  of 
Jesus,  515;  leper  cured,  571. 


756 


THE   LIFE    OP    CHRIST. 


Samaria,  198. 

Sanhedrim,  movements  of  against  Clirist, 
487,  5G&-G9,  655,  657;  powers  and 
method  of,  697,  698;  Christ  before, 
698-704. 

Semler,  2-5,  29. 

Sermon  on  tlie  Mount,  299 ;  on  the  Plain, 
312. 

Seventy  disciples  chosen,  516. 

Shechem,  195,  197. 

Shepherds,  announcement  to,  78,  79 ; 
visit  Betlilehem,  79. 

Siloam,  pool  of,  503. 

Simon's  feast,  Jesus  at,  341 ;  woman  with 
alabaster  box  at,  343. 

Simon  of  Cyrene,  717. 

Simeon,  prophecy  of,  80. 

Sin,  as  a  disease,  260;  deliverance  from, 
2G2 ;  when  guilt  is  felt  and  tailh  exer- 
cised, forgiveness  and  peace  are  as- 
sured, 263. 

Slaying  of  male  children  under  two 
years,  91. 

Son  of  God,  Christ  as,  156,  157,  161, 171, 
245,  256. 

Son  of  Man,  155, 188,  249,  259,  261 ;  blas- 
phemy against,  357. 

Sower,  parable  of,  366,  367. 

Sphinx-riddle  of  unbelievers,  24. 

Spirit,  Holy,  promise  of,  677,  678 

Star  of  the  Wise  Men,  89,  90. 

Strauss,  25,  83,  326. 

Sychar,  195. 

Syro-Phoenician  woman,  431-39. 

Synagogue,  Christ  preacliing  in,  229 ;  cast 
out  of,  232. 

Tabernacles,  feast  of,  Christ  attends, 
479. 


Talents,  parable  of,  475,  476. 

Teachings,  Christ's  mode  of,  292-94 ;  ef- 
fect upon  His  hearers,  237,  244. 

Temple,  purifying  of  the,  173,  616 ;  des- 
troy this,  175-77 ;  predicts  the  destruc- 
tion of,  643. 

Temptation,  of  Christ,  131-42;  its  im- 
port as  a  whole,  127-33;  that  of  the 
wilderness  repeated  in  the  temple,  175 ; 
John's,  333. 

Testimony  of  those  healed,  481-84. 

Theocracy  of  Old  Testament,  connection 
of  Christ's  plan  with  it,  63,  177. 

Thomas,  his  doubts,  285 ;  Christ's  appear- 
ance to,  742-44. 

Transfiguration  of  Christ,  451,  452. 

Tribute  to  Caesar,  Christ's  decision  on, 
627,  628. 

Triumphal  entry,  610-613. 

Trutli,  power  of,  366-73 ;  Pilate's  ques- 
tion, 710. 

Unpardonable  sin,  353-59. 

Vanity,  warning  against,  518. 

Vine  and  branches,  similitude  of,  677. 

Water  and  the  Spirit,  birth  of,  184. 

Water  of  life,  199. 

Widow,  the  importunate,  573. 

Widow's  mite,  638. 

Wise  men,  87-91. 

Worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  202,  204. 

Zaccheus,  594-97. 
Zealots,  720. 
Zoroaster,  88. 


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